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The Gerontologist 1990 30(2):249-253; doi:10.1093/geront/30.2.249
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© 1990 The Gerontological Society of America

Religious Cognitions and Use of Prayer in Health and Illness1

Lucille B. Bearon, PhD, Education and Evaluation Coordinator2 and Harold G. Koenig, MD, Geriatric Medicine Fellow3

2 Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (182), VA Medical Center 508 Fulton Street, Durham, NC 27705 Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University Medical Center
3 VA and Duke University Medical Centers


  Abstract

Forty adults aged 65–74 were asked about God's role in health and illness and about their use of prayer in response to recent physical symptoms. Most held a belief in a benevolent God but were not clear about God's role in health and illness. Over half had prayed about at least one symptom the last time they had it. The least-educated respondents and the Baptists were most likely to pray. Symptoms discussed with a physician or for which drugs were taken were more likely than others to be prayed over, suggesting that prayer may be used for symptoms seen as serious and that prayer and medical help-seeking are not mutually exclusive.

Keywords: Religion, Symptoms, Help-seeking

1 Revision of paper presented at the 41st Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, San Francisco, November, 1988. Funded by the Duke University Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development through a gift from Andrew S. Dibner and Susan S. Dibner. We thank Marie Shaw Simmons for valuable assistance in subject recruitment and data collection. She was supported by an Administration on Aging graduate internship through the North Carolina Central University Public Administration Program.


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