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Completed

NCT Number: NCT04557644

Contagious Itch, Disgust and Empathy in Patients and Medical Staff

This study is to assess the relationship between CI, disgust and empathy in medical staff treating patients with scabies, to differentiate the impact of visual and verbal stimuli contributing to CI and to assess information about CI, disgust and empathy in a family infested with scabies.

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Key information

Conditions

Contagious Itch Ectoparasitic Infestations Infections Mite Infestations Parasitic Diseases Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Pruritus Scabies Signs and Symptoms Skin Diseases Skin Diseases, Infectious Skin Diseases, Parasitic Skin Manifestations Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases

Age range

7 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Department of Dermatology; University Hospital Basel

Basel, 4031, Switzerland

About this study

Itch is the commonest skin-related symptom, defined as a bodily sensation provoking the urge to scratch. The induction of itch and scratching by mere (audio-) visual stimuli such as pictures of insects on skin or video clips showing individuals scratching themselves, indicates that itch can be perceived in the absence of a pruritogenic somatosensory stimulus. This phenomenon is referred to as "contagious itch" (CI). CI may play a special role in the content of scabies both for the affected patients as well as the treating staff: It is a very common phenomenon that family members who are not infested by scabies themselves experience itch when watching their infested relatives scratching. The same is very frequently expressed by health care professionals being confronted with scabies patients. Two further important factors may be involved in the context of CI: disgust and empathy. Empathy is defined as a psychological concept that enables individuals to understand and share emotions of others. Disgust is an emotional response of revulsion to potentially contagious and/or harmful objects or subjects. This study is to assess the relationship between CI, disgust and empathy in medical staff treating patients with scabies, to differentiate the impact of visual and verbal stimuli contributing to CI and to assess information about CI, disgust and empathy in a family infested with scabies.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • members of families (aged >7 years) hospitalized in the Department of Dermatology with scabies
  • staff (physicians, nurses, nurse aids aged >16 years) involved in the treatment of these families
  • Infestation of scabies in individual family members confirmed by two leading dermatologists of the University Hospital Basel by dermoscopy and/or skin scrapings.

Exclusion criteria

-

Treatment and study plan

7-items-questionnaires addressing CI, disgust and empathy

Other

7-items-questionnaire including numerical rating scales (NRS) ranging from 0 (no itch/disgust/empathy) to 10 (worst itch/disgust/most empathy imaginable) to rate itch, disgust and empathy they experience when treating the infested families.

Saarbrucken Personality questionnaire (SPQ) addressing empathy.

Other

Empathy is additionally assessed by the Saarbrucken Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) ,a 16-item tool.

10-items-questionnaire addressing previous dermatological conditions, intensity of itch

Other

10-items-questionnaire (completed by the hospitalised family) regarding demographic information (gender, age, profession), previous dermatological conditions, intensity of itch a.) on the first day of the hospitalisation, b.) when seeing the skin lesions of the other family members c.) when talking about the scabies/itch with the other family members, d.) when seeing other family members scratching themselves, and questions regarding their intensity of disgust of the scabies and empathy for the other family members (0-10 NRS).

ItchyQol-questionnaire composed of 22 items addressing itch-related symptoms, functions and emotions

Other

ItchyQol-questionnaire to assess the itch-related quality of life impairment. The ItchyQoL is composed of 22 items addressing itch-related symptoms, functions and emotions.

Primary outcomes

  1. Intensity of emotion (CI, disgust and empathy) in medical staff treating patients with scabies

    Time frame: one point assessment at baseline

    Score in 7-items-questionnaire including numerical rating scales (NRS) ranging from 0 (no itch/disgust/empathy) to 10 (worst itch/disgust/most empathy imaginable) to rate itch, disgust and empathy they experience when treating the infested families. The questionnaire (see Appendix) contains questions regarding demographic information (gender, age, profession), previous dermatological conditions, intensity of itch a.) before interacting with the patients, b.) when listening to the patients telling about their infestation with scabies, c.) when seeing the skin lesions, d.) when seeing patients scratching themselves, and questions regarding their intensity of disgust of the scabies and empathy for the families (0-10 NRS).

  2. Intensity of emotion (CI, disgust and empathy) in family infested with scabies

    Time frame: one point assessment at baseline (first day of hospitalisation)

    Score in 10-items-questionnaire addressing intensity of itch a.) on the first day of their hospitalisation, b.) when seeing the skin lesions of the other family members c.) when talking about the scabies/itch with the other family members, d.) when seeing other family members scratching themselves and intensity of disgust of the scabies and intensity of empathy for the other family members (0-10 NRS).

  3. Empathy scored by Saarbrucken Personality Questionnaire (SPQ)

    Time frame: one point assessment at baseline (first day of hospitalisation)

    The Saarbrucken personality questionnaire SPQ is the German version of the Interpersonality Reactivity Index (IRI) used for the measurement of empathy. The tool is a self-report answered on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from "Does not describe me well" to "Describes me very well".

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2020
Primary completion
2021
Study completion
2021
First posted
Sep 21, 2020
Registry last updated
Nov 4, 2021

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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