Efficacy of two-way prayer meditation in improving the psychospiritual well-being of people with substance use disorders: A pilot randomized controlled trial
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online October, 2021
Efficacy of two-way prayer meditation in improving the psychospiritual well-being of people with substance use disorders: A pilot randomized controlled trial
The study goal was to conduct a preliminary evaluation of a spiritual intervention called Two Way Prayer Meditation's (TWPM) effectiveness on the psychological distress, self-esteem, and spiritual well-being of people with substance use disorders.
Methods
This study employed a randomized controlled trial design with pretest and posttest. In total, 134 adults in four residential recovery programs participated in the study and were randomly assigned to either the TWPM group or the treatment as usual group. Primary and sensitivity analyses were conducted using linear mixed modeling. Hedges's g was used to estimate treatment effect sizes.
Results
Both primary and sensitivity analyses found significant treatment effects on daily spiritual experiences (Hedges's g = 0.62), reliance on God (g = 0.49), private religious practice (g = 0.36), and positive religious/spiritual coping (g = 0.68). Treatment effects on psychological distress (g = 0.33), self-esteem (g = 0.41), and overall spirituality self-ranking (g = 0.32) reached significance in the primary analysis but not in the sensitivity analysis.
Conclusions
This study found evidence of TWPM's effectiveness in improving some aspects of the spiritual well-being of adults with substance use disorders. TWPM was also found to be promising in decreasing psychological distress and increasing self-esteem.
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