BACKGROUND Experts have suggested that intersectoral partnerships between prayer camps and biomedical care providers may be an effective strategy to address the overwhelming shortage of mental health care workers in Africa and other low-income settings. Nevertheless, previous studies have not explored whether the prayer camp and biomedical staff beliefs and practices provide sufficient common g...

In an extension of research demonstrating causal effects of intercessory prayer for physical healing in a medical setting, the present study experimentally examined the effects of intercessory prayer for improved task performance in an employment setting. Trained customer service representatives either did, or did not, receive (over a 14-day period) daily intercessory prayer for the specific ne...

One of the strangest and saddest omissions in modern theology is prayer. A. Strong, for example, devoted but six pages to prayer under the heading of providence. M. Erickson's fine recent work contains only two pages on the subject, also under providence. On a single page W. G. T. Shedd lists prayer as one of the external "means of sanctification," along with Scripture, "Providential discipline...

During the preschool years, children understand prayer as a form of communication and are sensitive to the physical behaviours of prayer. Theorists have suggested a connection between the ability to reason about others’ mental states and the inflexible nature of religious rituals. Thus, the current study examined this connection in preschool children’s understanding of prayer. Child-parent dyad...

This paper presents a case series with preliminary data regarding the neurophysiological effects of specific prayer practices associated with the Islamic religion. Such practices, like other prayer practices, are likely associated with several coordinated cognitive activities and a complex pattern of brain physiology. However, there may also be changes specific to the goals of Islamic prayer wh...

CONTEXT Intercessory prayer (praying for others) has been a common response to sickness for millennia, but it has received little scientific attention. The positive findings of a previous controlled trial of intercessory prayer have yet to be replicated. OBJECTIVE To determine whether remote, intercessory prayer for hospitalized, cardiac patients will reduce overall adverse events and length ...

Prayer is the most common form of religious practice and a central part of religious experience, yet little is known about whether individuals’ prayer activities and beliefs tend to remain stable or develop over the life course. This study examines change during the course of older adulthood in a range of dimensions of prayer, including total frequency of private prayer, specific beliefs and ex...

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To explore the meaning, function, and focus of prayer for patients with advanced cancer, and to identify the effects of prayer on their coping. RESEARCH APPROACH Qualitative, descriptive design using focus groups. SETTING Three cancer centers that are part of a university-affiliated comprehensive cancer network in the northeastern United States. PARTICIPANTS 13 adult, f...