Does Prayer Make a Difference for Patients Research Paper

Does Prayer Make a Difference for Patients - Research Paper Example The supervisor asked her if there was any evidence to ascertain the benefits of prayer therapy on the health of patients. This incident triggered the search for evidence-based practice for prayer therapy and the results of the literature review and implications for practice are described below. Several research studies have been conducted to ascertain the benefits of prayer therapy with reference to patients. However, for evidence-based practice, only some studies can be taken into account. The gold standard for any evidence-based practice is randomized controlled trials which when performed with optimized research designs that can answer pertinent questions. However, meta-analysis and a systematic review have topped the hierarchy list and when present, they are preferred to randomized controlled trials (Evans, 2003). It is interesting to note that prayer does not only have therapeutic effects on those who pray, but also on those who are prayed by other people who do not actually kno w them. According to Hefti and Koenig (2007), "active prayer within the framework of a doctor-patient relationship can strengthen the patient's optimism and activate the body's healing resources." The first randomized controlled study evaluating the benefits of prayer therapy was studied in 1988 by Byrd. The study was conducted on 393 patients admitted to the coronary care unit of San Francisco General Hospital at San Francisco. In this study, the intervention group received structured intercessory prayers by persons unaware of them. Results of this study pointed to the benefits of intercessory praying in decreasing hospital course scores.