Trial reportThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2006
A pragmatic, three-arm randomised controlled trial of spiritual healing for asthma in primary care.
Trial report in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness, barriers, and facilitators of interventions delivered by traditional healers for the treatment of common mental disorders: A systematic review.Transcultural psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Biofield therapies: helpful or full of hype? A best evidence synthesis.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2010Pooled it
- Impact of interventions targeting anxiety and depression in adults with asthma.The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma · 2022Trial
- The Management of Extrapulmonary Comorbidities and Treatable Traits; Obesity, Physical Inactivity, Anxiety, and Depression, in Adults With Asthma.Frontiers in allergy · 2021Review
- Complementary and Alternative Therapies in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.Neurologic clinics · 2015Review
- Children with asthma and their families' viewpoints on spiritual and psychological resources in adaptation with the disease.Journal of religion and health · 2014Article
- Negotiating religious beliefs in a medical setting.Journal of religion and health · 2012Article
- 'Laying on of hands': magic or medicine?Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2007Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWell-designed trials are required to assess if complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is effective.
aimThis study assessed the effectiveness of spiritual healing for asthma. DESIGN OF STUDY: Randomised, placebo-controlled trial.
settingAberdeen, Scotland.
methodThis was a single-blind, three-armed randomised, controlled trial of spiritual healing for asthma, comparing the effectiveness of five sessions of spiritual healing with placebo (delivered by an actor), and with a control group receiving normal care only. The primary outcome measure was the Juniper Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ). Secondary outcomes were forced expiratory flow in one second (FEV1), peak expiratory flow (PEF), HADS (Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale), SF-36 and MYMOP (Measure Yourself Medical Outcome Profile). Baseline and follow-up data were collected.
resultsEighty-eight adult patients receiving pharmacological treatment for asthma participated. AQLQ scores improved significantly from baseline and the end of treatment in all groups (spiritual healing P = 0.008; 'sham' healing P = 0.001 and control P = 0.01) but there was no significant difference between groups (P = 0.57). These improvements were maintained at follow-up 1 for two of the groups (spiritual healing P = 0.016; sham healing P = 0.001 and control P = 0.09) but none of the groups showed an improvement at follow-up 2 (spiritual healing P = 0.161; sham healing P = 0.016 and control P = 0.11). Similar proportions of patients in each group showed a clinically important improvement in AQLQ score. Analysis of AQLQ scores at end of treatment and both follow-up periods indicated no significance between group differences. No consistent changes were seen in secondary outcome measures, possibly due to the small sample size.
conclusionSpiritual healing does not appear to have any specific affect on patient asthma related quality of life.
Indexed as
Identifiers
16762126PMC1839019W1839507877What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.