Frasch Ideas—Examine, Inquire, Explore

The Other Side of the STEP Study Results

Posted by Theresa on July 7th, 2006 filed in Believe It or Not

From Bob Barth, director of the Office of Prayer Research.

The recently published results of the Harvard-based STEP study provide scientists with important guideposts and learning tools for continuing the study of the relationship between prayer and healing, said Bob Barth, director of the Office of Prayer Research.

“Based on our initial review of the material, there is obviously a lot of value here,” Barth said.

A recent news story quoted a psychiatrist from Pennsylvania as saying:

“There is no point in studying prayer.

It doesn’t work.

End of story.”

Barth said, “That seems to me like someone telling Columbus:

There is no point in trying to sail around the world.

The world is flat.

End of story.

Where would we be today if Columbus had taken that advice like that and not kept discovering and exploring?

“Each new study, each new advance, opens up new avenues to explore. That’s what makes this field so exciting,” Barth added. “This field is truly in its pioneering stages, and those working in it right now are privileged to be setting the foundation that generations to come will build on as we examine this unique intersection of the physical and metaphysical.

“The STEP findings are very intriguing. For example, there have long been arguments that anecdotal cases of prayer-assisted healing could be traced to the psychological impact of knowing that prayers are being offered on your behalf. Yet patients involved in STEP who knew they were being prayed for fared worse than those who were being prayed for but didn’t know it,” Barth said.

While the STEP study found that intercessory prayer had no overall effect on complications during recovery from bypass surgery, Barth said controls designed to ensure the scientific validity of the study procedure also indicate key variables that can be changed and explored in future studies.

“Everything about the prayers offered on behalf of these patients was standardized-the wording of the prayers, the starting times and the duration,” Barth said. “That’s how you conduct good science. But it raises new questions and factors to be measured. There are so many challenges attached to designing an experimental methodology that incorporates all those factors.

The mission of the Office of Prayer Research is to advance scientific research on the healing effects of prayer and to serve as a conduit for the exchange of information coming from the scores of prayer studies scientists conduct each year in the U.S. and throughout the world. Barth, director of the Office of Prayer Research, holds a degree in physics with a minor in mathematics from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.