Prayer Study: Science or Not? by Kathy Gallucci Biology Department Elon Universi

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Prayer Study: Science or Not? by Kathy Gallucci Biology Department Elon University, Elon, NC PRAYER HEALS, SCIENTISTS REPORT Heart patients who had someone unknowingly praying intercessory prayer, not the existence of God, that we for them suffered fewer complications, according to a tested here." study conducted by researchers in Kansas City, Mo. Harris admitted in the study that he could not William Harris, a heart researcher and the lead author of the study, said in 1999 when the results were control all variables. For example, at least 50 percent of the patients admitted to the hospital said they have a religious preference. published that it's "potentially a super- or other-than- natural mechanism," or a "natural explanation we dont understand yet. It is probable that many, if not most, patients in both groups were already receiving intercessory and/or The study by Harris and other researchers involved direct prayer from friends, family and dlergy during their 990 patients admitted during a year to the Mid America hospitalization," according to the report. "Thus, there Heart Institute program of St. Luke's Hospital. was an unknowable and uncontrollable (but presumed Patients, randomly divided into two groups, either similar) level of "background" prayer being offered for had someone pray for them each day by community patients in both groups; whatever impact that (the) volunteers for four weeks, or had no one assigned to group assignment had on healing was over and above pray for them. any influence background prayer may have had. But this study and a similar one in 1988 in San Francisco that involved 393 heart patients had questionable methods, according to an expert not involved in either study That strangers were group was not revealed to the patients, their families, or their caregivers. They were not even told they were participating in the study The volunteers were told to pray daily for the speedy Both studies used their own scoring systems that tlled complications. Dr. Herbert Benson, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said their scoring systems have not been proven medically valid. Benson also is president of the Mind/Body Medical Institute at recovery with no complications for patients. They were only given the first names of selected patients Patients who were prayed for suffered about 10 percent fewer complications, ranging from chest pains to cardiac arrest, after four weeks, according to the study. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. The research was published Oct. 25, 1999, in the In one study, prayed-for patients suffered worse and others have found no apparent benefits to being prayed Benson, however, noted that people who believe in God or in prayer typically fare better than those who But whether prayer itself makes a difference remains Archives of Internal Medicine. The American Medical Association publishes the internal medicine journal. for Researchers concluded that prayer may be an effective addition to standard medical care. "Although we cannot know why we obtained the results we did, we dont, acording to medical research. can comment on what our data do not show," according to the report. "For example, we have not proven that unproven, according to Benson. God answers prayer or that God even exists. It was Prayer Study by Kathy Gallucci th

Explanation / Answer

1) Prayers can help patients suffer fewer complications and whether prayers can be explained scientifically or not is the hypothesis of the study.

2) Researchers predicted that prayers can help patients recover better or suffer fewer complications when prayed for by unknown persons to the patient for a period of time compared to patients who were not prayed for.

3) The prayer is the independent variable, since the prayer will not change for both positively responding group and negatively responding group.

4) The heart condition in patients are the dependent variable, since it depends on the prayer.

5) The amount of prayer offered, the group that offered the prayer, the type of prayer, the revelation of the information of the patients, the group who were prayed for and the group for whom, none prayer for are the controlled variables.

6) A group with normal health condition will act as a positive control and the group with heart condition will act as negaitive control.

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