The Effect of Religious Practices on Mental and Spiritual Health

NCT05622604 | Completed Results

• 1 other identifier: F22-011
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 312
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the effects of using a religious mobile app (i.e., Pray.com) in participants who have high levels of stress. The main question it aims to answer is: •What are the effects of using Pray.com on stress in individuals who report high levels of stress? Participants will complete measures at baseline (i.e., Time 1), four-weeks (i.e., Time 2), and eight weeks (i.e., Time 3). Participants will be randomly assigned one of three conditions: (1) autonomous use (directed to use the app daily), (2) meditative prayer condition (directed to use this feature of the app daily), or (3) wait-list control condition.

Conditions

Stress

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Perceived Stress Scale

  minimum value: 0, maximum value: 4, higher average item scores indicate higher levels of stress (i.e., worse outcome)

  2 months

Secondary Outcomes (8)

• Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale

  2 months

• Mindful Attention Awareness Scale

  2 months

• Copenhagen Burnout Inventory--personal Subscale

  2 months

• Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory

  2 months

• Religious Commitment Inventory

  2 months

Study Arms (3)

no intervention condition

NO INTERVENTION

no intervention

autonomous use condition

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to use the app five days per week.

Behavioral: pray.com app (autonomous use)

meditative prayer condition

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to listen to a meditation prayer five days per week.

Behavioral: pray.com app (meditative prayer condition)

Interventions

pray.com app (autonomous use) BEHAVIORAL

Participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to use the app five days per week.

autonomous use condition

pray.com app (meditative prayer condition) BEHAVIORAL

Participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to listen to a meditation prayer five days per week.

meditative prayer condition

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• over the age of 18
• own a smart phone and be willing to download a mobile app
• willing to engage in a Christian practice on a mobile app
• score of 14 or greater on the Perceived Stress Scale (indicating at least a moderate level of stress)

You may not qualify if:

• n/a

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Biola University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Biola University

La Mirada, California, 90639, United States

Location

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Breanne Laird, PhD
• Organization: Pray.com

breanne.laird@pray.com

9095574002

Study Officials

• Todd Hall, PhD

  Biola University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: No
• Restrictive Agreement: No

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Model Details: Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Condition 1 is the control condition (i.e., no intervention condition). In Condition 2, participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to use the app five days per week (i.e., autonomous use condition). In Condition 3, participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to listen to a meditation prayer five days per week (i.e., meditative prayer condition).

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 8, 2022
• First Posted: November 18, 2022
• Study Start: November 30, 2022
• Primary Completion: March 10, 2023
• Study Completion: March 10, 2023
• Last Updated: October 10, 2025
• Results First Posted: October 10, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)