文章基本信息

标题：“I Heard the Voice. I Felt the Presence”: Prayer, Health and Implications for Clinical Practice
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作者：Mary Rute Gomes Esperandio ; Kevin L. Ladd
期刊名称：Religions
电子版ISSN：2077-1444
出版年度：2015
卷号：6
期号：2
页码：670-685
DOI：10.3390/rel6020670
语种：English
出版社：MDPI Publishing
摘要：Research concerning the relation between physical health and prayer typically employs an outcome oriented paradigm and results are inconsistent. This is not surprising since prayer per se is not governed by physiological principles. More revealing and logically compelling, but more rare, is literature examining health and prayer from the perspective of the participants. The present study examines the health–prayer experience of 104 Christians in the United States. Data were collected through recorded video interviews and analyzed by means of content analysis. Results show that prayer is used as a context nuanced spiritual tool for: dealing with physical suffering (spiritual-religious coping); sustaining hope and spirituality via a sacred dimension; personal empowerment; self-transcendence. These findings demonstrate that practitioners primarily engage prayer at a spiritual rather than a physical level, underscoring the limitations of a biomedical or “Complementary and Alternative Medicine” perspective that conceptualizes prayer as a mechanism for intentionally improving physical health. In clinical practice, regarding the medical, psychotherapeutic, or pastoral, the challenge is to understand prayer through the framework of the practitioner, in order to affirm its potential in healthcare processes.
关键词：prayer; spirituality; religion; health; clinical practice prayer ; spirituality ; religion ; health ; clinical practice