Table 2.

Frequency of the topics of/reasons for prayer.   

Main categories	Subcategories	Ai et al., 2002 [29]  N = 246	Ai et al., 2007 [30]  N = 310	Cotton et al., 2012  [46]   N = 19	Crane et al., 2000 [33]  N = 51	Harvey and Silverman 2007 [36]  N = 88	Harvey and Cook 2010 [37]  N = 41	Klafke et al., 2014 [39]  N = 26	Lagman et al., 2014 [34]  N = 10	Levine et al., 2009 [35]  N = 175	Meraviglia 2002 [31]  N = 32	Rezaei et al., 2008 [25]  N = 360	Richmond et al., 2010 [38]  N = 133	Smith et al., 2012 [32]  N = 13	Taylor et al., 1999 [26]  N = 30	Taylor and Outlaw 2002 [27]  N = 30	Walton and Sullivan 2004 [28]  N = 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