BERKELEY, CA – A recent study of millennial patients diagnosed with chronic diseases found that social media posts with #ThoughtsAndPrayers were more effective than posts with either #Thoughts or #Prayers alone.
Researchers were given access to the social media accounts of patients newly-diagnosed with cancer and other chronic diseases. Depending on treatment allocation they then made emotional posts requesting #Thoughts, #Prayers, or #ThoughtsAndPrayers.
The disease-free survival, remission rate and patient satisfaction rates were the highest for patients randomized to receive both #ThoughtsAndPrayers. Analysis was performed using intention to treat as several patients randomized to receive only #Thoughts also received #Prayers as well as a couple #ThoughtsAndPrayers.
The synergistic effect of #ThoughtsAndPrayers was even greater than the combined individual effects of #Thoughts and #Prayers given individually.
Patients receiving only #Thoughts fared also worse at all data points than patients receiving #Prayers but the difference did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.07).
The lead author on the study, Dr. Toomani Hashtagues, said the findings are what she expected. “My Baptist grandma always told me that thoughts were worthless without prayers. She always told us, ‘The Lord doesn’t work just because someone is thinking somethin, ya have to ask Him!’ Turns out she was right!”
The study is already being criticized for a lack of a true control group who received no hashtags. The authors disagree arguing that there are no millennials in the U.S. outside of the Amish community without a social media footprint.
- 2.4KShares
