Personal Prayer in Patients Dealing with Chronic Illness: A Review of the Research Literature

Table 2

Frequency of the topics of/reasons for prayer.   

Main categories

Subcategories

Ai et al., 2002 [29]; = 246

Ai et al., 2007 [30]; = 310

Cotton et al., 2012  [46]

Crane et al., 2000 [33]; = 51

Harvey and Silverman 2007 [36]; = 88

Harvey and Cook 2010 [37]; = 41

Klafke et al., 2014 [39]; = 26

Lagman et al., 2014 [34]; = 10

Levine et al., 2009 [35]; = 175

Meraviglia 2002 [31]; = 32

Rezaei et al., 2008 [25]; = 360

Richmond et al., 2010 [38]; = 133

Smith et al., 2012 [32]; = 13

Taylor et al., 1999 [26]; = 30

Taylor and Outlaw 2002 [27]; = 30

Walton and Sullivan 2004 [28]; = 11

Disease-centered prayers

Improvement in health or state of mind

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Disease management

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Positive contributions

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Assurance-centered prayers

Protection

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Strength/hope

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Trust

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Gratitude

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Guilt and forgiveness

x

x

x

x

x

God-centered prayers

Worship/adoration

x

x

x

Reflecting on and experiencing God’s presence

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Relationship with God

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Other-centered prayers

For others

x

x

x

x

x

x

Lamentations

Complaint and fear

x

x

x

Doubt

x

x