Observations on Prayer as a Viable Treatment Intervention: A Brief Review for Healthcare Providers

Abstract

Prayer continues to gain much notoriety and attention as a medical intervention. There are many places now advocating spirituality as a form of health care. As clinical practices seek to enhance the quality of care given, attention should be given to the implementation of prayer into clinical practice. Family physicians have begun dialogue over how to take a spiritual history or inventory of their patients in order to assist in recovery and prevention if illness and disease.1 Larimore1 reports that 99% of surveyed family physicians (n=296) believe that religious beliefs can heal, 75% believe other people’s prayers (i.e., intercessory prayer) can promote healing.