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Religion

Old Dominion University

Health

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Full-Text Articles in Communication

Exploring Prayer Contexts And Health Outcomes: From The Chair To The Pew, E. James Baesler, Kevin Ladd Jan 2009

Exploring Prayer Contexts And Health Outcomes: From The Chair To The Pew, E. James Baesler, Kevin Ladd

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

Prayer in personal, interpersonal, small, and large group contexts is described in relationship to physical, psychological, and spiritual health. A sample of college and middle-aged adults (N = 189) completed cross-sectional surveys. Quantitative analyses revealed that prayer in all contexts predicted higher levels of spiritual health, and that the strongest prayer predictors of health were: large group prayer for mental health, and private and large group prayer for spiritual health. Qualitative results revealed that prayers for physical health in close personal relationships, and table blessing prayers among family members, were two of the most common types of prayer. Suggestions for …


Exploring Interdisciplinary Prayer Research In A Health Context, E. James Baesler Jan 2008

Exploring Interdisciplinary Prayer Research In A Health Context, E. James Baesler

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

Communication, Psychology, and Sociology are three leading academic disciplines engaged in the social scientific study of prayer, the spiritual communication between a believer(s) and God, but rarely do these disciplines collaborate in interdisciplinary prayer scholarship. Possibilities for interdisciplinary prayer research in a health context are explored through a review of the literature and academic interviews. Interdisciplinary linkages in the prayer-health context are organized in an integral "all-quadrant" theoretical model, and an assessment of the viability of interdisciplinary prayer-health research is considered.