Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in cardiac bypass patients: A multicenter randomized trial of uncertainty and certainty of receiving intercessory prayer

Benson, Herbert; Dusek, Jeffery A.; Sherwood, Jane B.; Lam, P.; Bethea, Charles F.; Carpenter, William T.; Levitsky, Sidney; Hill, Peter C.; Clem, Donald W.; Jain, Manoj; Drumel, David; Kopecky, Stephen L.; Mueller, Paul S.; Marek, Dean V.; Rollins, S. Kwesi; Hibberd, Patricia L.

doi:10.1016/j.ahj.2005.05.028

Cited by 241 publications

(122 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…With regard to the type of prayer, two studies made use of petition prayer [24,34] and 10 of intercessory prayer [23,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. There was a study that associated other therapies with intercessory prayer, such as music, image guidance and therapeutic touch [25].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Positive outcomes comprised the reduction of anxiety of mothers of children with cancer, as well as a decrease in the level of concern of the participants who believe there is a solution to their problem, and the improved physical functioning of individuals who believe in prayer (Table 1). Seven studies had been conducted in the USA [23][24][25][26][27][28][29], one in South Korea [30], one in Israel [31], one in the UK [32] and two did not identify the origin [33,34]. The papers had been published in several health journals, two of which related to complementary and alternative practices [22,25].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The papers had been published in several health journals, two of which related to complementary and alternative practices [22,25]. Six articles had been published over the past decade [23][24][25]27,33,34] and only two in the 1990s [28,32].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another study investigated anxiety and depression in patients with psychological disorders [24]. Four analysed adverse events in patients with cardiac disorders [25,[27][28][29], two of which included patients undergoing cardiac surgery [25,27]. Two had pregnancy as the research focus: one investigated the success of in vitro fertilization [30] and the other was related to pregnancy and labour [33].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Effect of Prayer on Patients’ Health: Systematic Literature Review

2016

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Abstract:There is increasing interest regarding prayer in healthcare. Prayer is an activity related to spirituality and religion. Positive outcomes have been identified regarding spirituality in health. This study aims to investigate the effects on patients' health of using prayer. A systematic literature review was conducted in May 2015 and updated in November 2015. Electronic and international databases were searched and the inclusion criteria were based on PICOS: (Population) patients of any age and any clinical situation, (Intervention) all types of prayer, (Comparison) ordinary care, (Outcomes) any health change, (Study type) randomized clinical trials. Neither timeframe nor limitation in language were considered. A total of 92 papers were identified and 12 were included in the review. Prayer was considered a positive factor in seven studies, and several positive effects of prayer on health were identified: reducing the anxiety of mothers of children with cancer; reducing the level of concern of the participants who believe in a solution to their problem; and providing for the improved physical functioning of patients who believe in prayer. Prayer is a non-pharmacological intervention and resource, and should be included in the nursing holistic care aimed at patients' well-being.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Effect of Prayer on Patients’ Health: Systematic Literature Review

2016

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“…In a famous study by Benson et al, for instance (Benson et al 2006), the therapeutic effect of intercessory prayer in cardiac by-pass patients was investigated through a methodologically sound RCT-trial. Although the study failed to demonstrate any effect, prima facie it is an honest attempt to establish supernatural intervention by scientific means.…”

Section: Argument 1 -Argument From the Definition Of Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

How Not to Attack Intelligent Design Creationism: Philosophical Misconceptions About Methodological Naturalism

2010

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In recent controversies about Intelligent Design Creationism (IDC), the principle of methodological naturalism (MN) has played an important role. In this paper, an often neglected distinction is made between two different conceptions of MN, each with its respective rationale and with a different view on the proper role of MN in science. According to one popular conception, MN is a self-imposed or intrinsic limitation of science, which means that science is simply not equipped to deal with claims of the supernatural (Intrinsic MN or IMN). Alternatively, we will defend MN as a provisory and empirically grounded attitude of scientists, which is justified in virtue of the consistent success of naturalistic explanations and the lack of success of supernatural explanations in the history of science. (Provisory MN or PMN). Science does have a bearing on supernatural hypotheses, and its verdict is uniformly negative. We will discuss five arguments that have been proposed in support of IMN: the argument from the definition of science, the argument from lawful regularity, the science stopper argument, the argument from procedural necessity, and the testability argument. We conclude that IMN, because of its philosophical flaws, proves to be an ill-advised strategy to counter the claims of IDC. Evolutionary scientists are on firmer ground if they discard supernatural explanations on purely evidential grounds, instead of ruling them out by philosophical fiat.

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