Rebecca Webster

Background Cervical cancer (CC) results in around 604,00 new cancer cases yearly and is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). Uptake rates for both the HPV vaccination and screening have been decreasing over recent years, particularly in young women, whilst CC remains a concern for both low- and high-income countries. Objectives To highlight t...

As most women now reaching the age for cervical cancer screening (24.5 years old) in the UK will be HPV vaccinated, their current perspectives on screening can inform effective interventions to increase screening uptake (and thus, early detection). Twenty-four interviews were conducted with women aged 24–30 years old to explore their views on cervi...

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that all emergencies, major incidents and disease outbreaks can have substantial mental health consequences, and it has demonstrated the proven need for additional care for populations in the wake of disasters. This book brings together practice and recent developments in pre-hospital emergency care, emergency medici...

Objectives To prevent the spread of infectious disease, children are typically asked not to attend school, clubs or other activities, or socialise with others while they have specific symptoms. Despite this, many children continue to participate in these activities while symptomatic. Design and setting We commissioned a national cross-sectional su...

In England (UK), at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic the public were required to reduce their physical contacts to slow the spread of COVID-19. We investigated the factors associated with children having: 1) close contact with family members from outside their household (‘non-adherent behaviour’); and 2) low well-being (Revised Child Anxiety and...

The simple act of informing patients about side-effects increases the likelihood they will experience them (i.e. the nocebo effect). Explaining this psychological phenomenon could help to reduce side-effect experience, however, it is yet to be explored if this can be applied to clinical settings where new medication is prescribed. In addition, the...

Introduction Children attending school whilst unwell, known as school-based presenteeism, results in negative impacts on education and mental and physical health. We aimed to identify the risk factors for this behaviour. Method We conducted a systematic search of five databases (11 July 2022) using words associated with school (e.g., school and ch...

Background: Positively framing side-effect risk in patient information leaflets (PILs) can reduce side-effect expectations and resulting nocebo effects (nonspecific medication side effects unrelated to the drug’s pharmacological action). There is scope to educate patients about nocebo effects in PILs to minimize their occurrence further. Aims: To i...

In 2020, schools in England closed for six months due to COVID-19, resulting in children being home-schooled. There is limited understanding about the impacts of this on children’s mental and physical health and their education. Therefore, we explored how families coped with managing these issues during the school closures. We conducted 30 qualitat...

Objective: Negative beliefs about medication and vaccine side-effects can spread rapidly through social communication. This has been recently documented with the potential side-effects from the COVID-19 vaccines. We tested if pre-vaccination social communications about side-effects from personal acquaintances, news reports, and social media predict...

Objective Negative beliefs about medication and vaccine side-effects can spread rapidly through social communication. This has been recently documented with the potential side-effects from the COVID-19 vaccines. We tested if pre-vaccination social communications about side-effects from personal acquaintances, news reports, and social media predict...

The ability of families to adhere to public health guidance is critical to controlling a pandemic. We conducted qualitative interviews with 30 parents of children aged 18 and under, between 16 and 21 April 2020 when schools in England were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the Theoretical Domains Framework, we classified the factors that i...

Background Vaccines are being administered worldwide to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccine boosters are essential for maintaining immunity and protecting against virus variants. The side effects of the primary COVID-19 vaccine (e.g., headache, nausea), however, could reduce intentions to repeat the vaccination experience, thereby hindering globa...

COVID-19 vaccine side-effects remain a substantial barrier to vaccination. Previous studies suggest that the experience of vaccination side-effects is exacerbated by expectations, but the extent to which social communication influences these expectations is currently unclear. A prospective longitudinal study (N=551) assessed whether three different...

Background: Vaccines are being administered worldwide to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccine boosters are essential for maintaining immunity and protecting against virus variants. The side effects of the primary COVID-19 vaccine (e.g., headache, nausea), however, could reduce intentions to repeat the vaccination experience, thereby hindering glob...

Background Using test, trace and isolate systems can help reduce the spread of COVID-19. Parents have the additional responsibility of using these systems for themselves and acting on behalf of their children to help control COVID-19. We explored factors associated with the use of England’s NHS Test and Trace service among parents of school-aged ch...

Background On 23 March 2020, schools closed to most children in England in response to COVID-19 until September 2020. Schools were kept open to children of key workers and vulnerable children on a voluntary basis. Starting 1 June 2020, children in reception (4–5 years old), year 1 (5–6 years old) and year 6 (10–11 years old) also became eligible to...

Background Using test, trace and isolate systems can help reduce the spread of COVID-19. Parents have the additional responsibility of using these systems for themselves and acting on behalf of their children to help control COVID-19. We explored factors associated with the use of England’s NHS Test and Trace service among parents of school-aged ch...

A prospective longitudinal study tested the links between nocebo-related factors and COVID-19 vaccine experienced side-effects. Pre-vaccine side-effect expectations, worry about COVID-19, and depressive symptoms predicted COVID-19 vaccine side-effects (i.e., headache, fatigue), and did so beyond baseline symptoms, age, vaccine type, and prior COVID...

'Blinding' involves concealing knowledge of which trial participants received the interventions from participants themselves and other trial personnel throughout the trial. Blinding reduces bias arising from the beliefs and expectations of these groups. It is agreed that where possible, blinding should be attempted, for example by ensuring that exp...

Background Research investigating predictors of side-effect expectations is disparate and largely based on hypothetical vignettes. Purpose To carry out a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial and investigate the predictors of side-effect expectations for side-effects that were, or were not, warned about. Methods Two hundred and thre...

Objectives Symptom misattribution is a central process in the nocebo effect but it is not accurately assessed in current side effect measures. We have developed a new measure, the Side Effect Attribution Scale (SEAS), which examines the degree to which people believe their symptoms are treatment side effects. Methods The SEAS was tested in three N...

Background Placebo or sham controls are the standard against which the benefits and harms of many active interventions are measured. Whilst the components and the method of their delivery have been shown to affect study outcomes, placebo and sham controls are rarely reported and often not matched to those of the active comparator. This can influenc...

Objectives: Malicious incidents involving chemical agents sometimes trigger high public concern. We aimed to (1) identify levels of emotion, perceived risk and behaviour change with regard to visiting Salisbury, 1 month after three people were poisoned with a nerve agent; and (2) test whether factors including receipt of information, beliefs about...

Purpose Research fatigue occurs when an individual or population of interest tires of engaging with research, consequently avoiding further participation. This paper considers research fatigue in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, to identify contributory factors and possible solutions for future post-disaster research. Design/methodolo...

IntroductionReframing side-effect information in patient information leaflets (PILs) in terms of those who remain side-effect–free may reduce negative expectations and side-effects, although there are concerns this may impact informed consent. This study compared two versions of positively framed PILs with current practice to see which reduces side...

Background Fear of side‐effects can result in non‐adherence to medical interventions, such as medication and chemotherapy. Side‐effect expectations have been identified as strong predictors of later perception of side‐effects. However, research investigating predictors of side‐effect expectations is disparate. Objective To identify factors associa...

Background Emergency school closures are often used as public health interventions during infectious disease outbreaks to minimise the spread of infection. However, if children continue mixing with others outside the home during closures, the effect of these measures may be limited.AimThis review aimed to summarise existing literature on children's...

Background Emergency school closures are often used as public health interventions during infectious disease outbreaks in an attempt to minimise the spread of infection. However, if children continue to mix with others outside the home during the closures, these measures are unlikely to be effective. Objectives This review aimed to summarise existi...

Objectives: The January 2020 outbreak of coronavirus has once again thrown the vexed issue of quarantine into the spotlight, with many countries asking their citizens to self-isolate if they have potentially come into contact with the infection. However, adhering to quarantine is difficult. Decisions on how to apply quarantine should be based on th...

Background Emergency school closures are often used as public health interventions during infectious disease outbreaks in an attempt to minimise the spread of infection. However, if children continue to mix with others outside the home during the closures, these measures are unlikely to be effective. Objectives This review aimed to summarise existi...

Objectives: The January 2020 outbreak of coronavirus has once again thrown the vexed issue of quarantine into the spotlight, with many countries asking their citizens to ‘self-isolate’ if they have potentially come into contact with the infection. However, adhering to quarantine is difficult. Decisions on how to apply quarantine should be based on...

Objectives The January 2020 outbreak of coronavirus has once again thrown the vexed issue of quarantine into the spotlight, with many countries asking their citizens to ‘self-isolate’ if they have potentially come into contact with the infection. However, adhering to quarantine is difficult. Decisions on how to apply quarantine should be based on t...

The December, 2019 coronavirus disease outbreak has seen many countries ask people who have potentially come into contact with the infection to isolate themselves at home or in a dedicated quarantine facility. Decisions on how to apply quarantine should be based on the best available evidence. We did a Review of the psychological impact of quaranti...

The December, 2019 coronavirus disease outbreak has seen many countries ask people who have potentially come into contact with the infection to isolate themselves at home or in a dedicated quarantine facility. Decisions on how to apply quarantine should be based on the best available evidence. We did a Review of the psychological impact of quaranti...

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translate...

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translate...

Background: Poorly described placebo/sham controls inhibit appraisal of active intervention benefits and harms. The 12-item Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist was developed to improve the reporting of active intervention components. The extent to which TIDieR is used to guide description of placebo or sham con...

Background: Workplace presenteeism is common and leads to the spread of infectious diseases. Previous reviews have focused on presenteeism in relation to general physical or mental ill health. In this systematic review we identified the prevalence of, and reasons and risk factors for, presenteeism in relation to an infectious illness. Method: We...

Background: Nocebo effects contribute to a large proportion of the non-specific side-effects attributed to medications and are mainly generated through negative expectations. Previous reviews show that interventions designed to change participants' expectations have a small effect on pain experience. They are also effective in reducing side-effects...

Background Trial participants in placebo groups report experiencing adverse events (AEs). Existing systematic reviews have not been synthesized, leaving questions about why these events occur as well as their prevalence across different conditions unanswered. Objectives To synthesize the evidence of prevalence of AEs in trial placebo groups across...

Clinicians in the United Kingdom are now legally obliged to tell patients about every risk involved in prescribed medical treatments. Although important for informed consent, warning patients of risks such as side-effects can increase the incidence of these very side-effects, through the nocebo effect. Positively framing risk information could be a...

Table S1. Re‐running main analyses without participants who guessed the tablet was a placebo.

Data S1. Copy of patient information leaflets.

Objectives To assess public attitudes towards data sharing to facilitate a mental health screening programme for people caught up in a mass casualty incident. Design Two, identical, cross-sectional, online surveys, using quotas to ensure demographic representativeness of people aged 18–65 years in England. Participants were randomly allocated to c...

Objectives: To investigate a range of possible predictors of nocebo responses to medicines. Design: Prospective cohort study. Methods: In total, 203 healthy adult volunteers completed measures concerning demographics, psychological factors, medicine-related beliefs, baseline symptoms, and symptom expectations before taking a sham pill, describ...

Background Many medication side effects are the result of a psychologically mediated “nocebo effect,” triggered by negative expectations. Purpose This study investigated if changing how side effect information is framed in patient information leaflets (PILs) reduces symptom reporting. Methods A total of 203 healthy volunteers aged 18 or over were...

Objectives: To establish how the terms recommended by the European Commission to describe side-effect risk in patient information leaflets (PILs) influences expectations of side-effects and to identify factors associated with these side-effect expectations. Design: A cross-sectional online survey was carried out by a market research company. Se...

IntroductionEvidence suggests the current verbal risk descriptors used to communicate side effect risk in patient information leaflets (PILs) are overestimated. Objectives The aim was to establish how people understand the verbal risk descriptors recommended for use in PILs by the European Commission (EC), and alternative verbal risk descriptors, i...

Objectives: To identify predictors of: uptake of the childhood influenza vaccine in the 2015-2016 influenza season, parental perceptions of side-effects from the influenza vaccine and intention to vaccinate one's child for influenza in the 2016-2017 influenza season. Design: Cross-sectional online survey. Setting: Data were collected in Englan...

Objectives: Medication side effects are common, often leading to reduced quality of life, nonadherence, and financial costs for health services. Many side effects are the result of a psychologically mediated "nocebo effect." This review identifies the risk factors involved in the development of nocebo effects. Method: Web of Science, Scopus, MED...