The first official conference of the Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS) took place in Leiden from April 2 to 4, 2017. The conference is devoted to medical, psychological, and neurobiological research on placebo effects, as well as ethical dilemmas and treatment options (for more information see: https://sipsconference.com/).

At the conference, Aniek Wols presented her poster 'specific and nonspecific factors in game-based intervention outcomes'. She argues that research involving e-health applications should not only focus on specific factors (i.e. the specific techniques used in therapy that are translated into the e-health application), but also on nonspecific factors such as expectations for improvement, implicit beliefs and motivation for change. In her research, Aniek wants to utilize the potential of both specific and nonspecific factors to optimize game-based intervention outcomes. The poster evaluation committee thought her poster and presentation were of high quality and Aniek became the first runner up for the best poster!