Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in Cardiac Bypass Patients: A Multicenter Randomized Trial of Uncertainty and Certainty of Receiving Intercessory Prayer
📄 Original study ↗📌 Appears in:
Plain English Summary
This was the big one — a $2.4 million study and the largest rigorous test of whether prayer from strangers helps sick people. Researchers enrolled 1,802 heart bypass patients across six hospitals in three groups: some prayed for but unaware, some not prayed for and unaware, and some told they were definitely receiving prayer. Three Christian groups prayed for each patient for 14 days. Prayer made no difference for unaware patients — about 52% had complications either way. But here's the twist: patients who knew they were being prayed for did worse, with 59% experiencing complications — a statistically significant negative effect! Some researchers suspect a "nocebo" response — perhaps knowing people are praying for you creates anxiety or signals your situation is serious.
Research Notes
The largest and best-funded intercessory prayer RCT ever conducted ($2.4M, Templeton Foundation). The unexpected finding that certainty of prayer worsened outcomes sparked debate about nocebo effects. Key Con evidence in Controversy #5 (distant healing). Schwartz & Dossey (2010) use STEP as a case study critiquing the prayer-as-remote-intervention paradigm.
A $2.4 million multicenter randomized clinical trial at six US hospitals examined whether intercessory prayer affects recovery from coronary artery bypass graft surgery. 1,802 patients were randomized to three groups: prayed-for but uncertain (n=604), not prayed-for and uncertain (n=597), or prayed-for and certain of receiving prayer (n=601). Three Christian prayer groups prayed for 14 days starting the night before surgery. Complications within 30 days occurred in 52% of uncertain prayed-for patients vs 51% of uncertain non-prayed-for patients (RR=1.02, 95% CI 0.92–1.15, p=.67), showing no effect of prayer. Patients certain of receiving prayer had significantly more complications at 59% (RR=1.14, 95% CI 1.02–1.28, p=.025). Intercessory prayer had no effect on complication-free recovery, and certainty of receiving prayer was associated with worse outcomes.
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Cites
Cited By
- Nonlocality, Intention, and Observer Effects in Healing Studies: Laying a Foundation for the Future — Schwartz, Stephan A (2010)
- Two Meta-Analyses of Noncontact Healing Studies — Roe, Chris A (2015)
- Can We Help Just by Good Intentions? A Meta-Analysis of Experiments on Distant Intention Effects — Schmidt, Stefan (2012)
- Distant Healing of Surgical Wounds: An Exploratory Study — Schlitz, Marilyn (2012)
- Prayer and Health: Review, Meta-Analysis, and Research Agenda — Masters, Kevin S (2007)
Companion
- Effects of remote, retroactive intercessory prayer on outcomes in patients with bloodstream infection: randomised controlled trial — Leibovici, Leonard (2001)
- Effects of Healing Intention on Cultured Cells and Truly Random Events — Radin, Dean (2004)
- Integrative Noetic Therapies as Adjuncts to Percutaneous Intervention During Unstable Coronary Syndromes: Monitoring and Actualization of Noetic Training (MANTRA) Feasibility Pilot — Krucoff, Mitchell W (2001)
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📋 Cite this paper
Benson, Herbert, Dusek, Jeffery A, Sherwood, Jane B, Lam, Peter, Bethea, Charles F, Carpenter, William, Levitsky, Sidney, Hill, Peter C, Clem, Donald W. Jr, Jain, Manoj K, Drumel, David, Kopecky, Stephen L, Mueller, Paul S, Marek, Dean, Rollins, Sue, Hibberd, Patricia L (2006). Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in Cardiac Bypass Patients: A Multicenter Randomized Trial of Uncertainty and Certainty of Receiving Intercessory Prayer. American Heart Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ahj.2005.05.028
@article{benson_2006_therapeutic,
title = {Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in Cardiac Bypass Patients: A Multicenter Randomized Trial of Uncertainty and Certainty of Receiving Intercessory Prayer},
author = {Benson, Herbert and Dusek, Jeffery A and Sherwood, Jane B and Lam, Peter and Bethea, Charles F and Carpenter, William and Levitsky, Sidney and Hill, Peter C and Clem, Donald W. Jr and Jain, Manoj K and Drumel, David and Kopecky, Stephen L and Mueller, Paul S and Marek, Dean and Rollins, Sue and Hibberd, Patricia L},
year = {2006},
journal = {American Heart Journal},
doi = {10.1016/j.ahj.2005.05.028},
}