Resumo

CSIZMAR CARVALHO, Camila; PAIVA SILVA, Roberta de; CASSIA LOPES CHAVES, Erika de  e  CALDEIRA, Sílvia. Intercessory prayer: a systematic review of the literature. Index Enferm [online]. 2013, vol.22, n.3, pp.186-190. ISSN 1699-5988.  https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/S1132-12962013000200017.

Objective: To investigate the effect and applicability of intercessory prayer (IP) for health care. Methods: Systematic review in PubMed and CINAHL databases, with guiding question "What is the effect of intercessory prayer on the health recovery of people in medical treatment?". Inclusion criteria were adopted: clinical trials published in the last ten years, with abstract available online, written in english, portuguese or spanish. Results: Were included eight articles, in which five of them, the IP did not show statistically significant results, two had a positive effect and a article had negative effect. Conclusions: The literature lacks scientific evidence on the effects of intercessory prayer (IP) for health care. It should investigate the effect of IP in future studies, using a protocol for implementation of prayer.

Palavras-chave : Spirituality; Faith healing; Nursing.