Clinical Trials Directory

Trials / Completed

CompletedNCT00179491

Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP)

Status
Completed
Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
1,802 (actual)
Sponsor
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center · Academic / Other
Sex
All
Age
18 Years
Healthy volunteers
Not accepted

Summary

Intercessory prayer is widely believed to influence recovery from illness, but claims of benefits are not supported by well-controlled clinical trials. Prior studies have not addressed whether prayer itself or knowledge/certainty that prayer is being provided may influence outcome. We evaluated whether (1) receiving intercessory prayer or (2) being certain of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with uncomplicated recovery after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

Detailed description

Intercessory prayer is widely believed to influence recovery from illness, but claims of benefits are not supported by well-controlled clinical trials. Prior studies have not addressed whether prayer itself or knowledge/certainty that prayer is being provided may influence outcome. We evaluated whether (1) receiving intercessory prayer or (2) being certain of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with uncomplicated recovery after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

Conditions

Interventions

TypeNameDescription
BEHAVIORALIntercessory Prayer14 days of intercessory prayer from 3 sites

Timeline

Start date
1998-04-01
Completion
2001-11-01
First posted
2005-09-16
Last updated
2007-11-05

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00179491. Inclusion in this directory is not an endorsement.