In a study of an antidepressant, both patients and clinicians evaluating symptom severity are kept unaware of who received the drug versus the placebo.
The main reason for keeping clinicians unaware is to
- A
Allow blocking by symptom severity
- B
Eliminate the need for a placebo
- C
Increase compliance with treatment
- Dcheck_circle
Prevent biased symptom evaluation by clinicians who might expect drug benefits
Explanation
Clinicians who know which patients received the drug might unconsciously rate them differently. Blinding the evaluators removes this source of bias.