Use of aromatherapy to promote a therapeutic nurse environment

Using Complementary and Alternative Medicine to Treat Pain and Agitation in Dementia

“…43 Despite the included RCTs showing no difference from placebo, the studies showed safety and tolerability for external use. Individuals with dementia often have impaired olfactory function, 34,36 which may explain in part the negative results of the aromatherapy studies.…”

The effectiveness of aromatherapy and massage on stress management in nurses: A systematic review

“…Four studies reported the gender of the participants, most of which are female (Brennan & Debate, ; Engen et al., ; Hansen et al., ; Nazari et al., ). The participants in two studies included other healthcare staff, such as charge nurses (CNs), patient care technicians (PCTs), nurse managers and enrolled nurses (Bost & Wallis, ; Johnson et al., ), in addition to registered nurses. The remaining eight studies’ participants were only registered nurses.…”

“…The tools to measure stress in the included studies were highly different. The tools were a visual analog scale (VAS; a horizontal line of 10 cm from 0–10 points; the higher the point, the more severe the stress level; Pemberton & Turpin, ; Seo et al., ); a prepost survey (the content validity was not reported; Johnson et al., ); an occupational stress instrument (OSI; including 60 items and Cronbach's alpha is 0.89; Nazari et al., ); a stress symptom scale (content validity is 0.88 when applied to stress symptoms; Chen et al., ); a perceived stress scale‐14 (14‐item and scores range from 0–56, with adequate internal consistency and validity; the higher scores, the more stress perceived; Brennan & Debate, ; Engen et al., ); Cooper's Job Stress Questionnaire (CSQ, consist of 22 items; Hansen et al., ); and a Perceived Occupational Stress Scale (consists of 46 items, the Cronbach's alpha for stress items was 0.863; Davis, Cooke, Holzhauser, Jones, & Finucane, ). In addition, one study used objective outcomes, that is, urinary cortisol, to evaluate the stress level of nurses (Bost & Wallis, ).…”

“…In the 10 articles that were included, four studies conducted aromatherapy interventions. These interventions were nonrandomised controlled trial ( n = 2; Chen et al., ; Seo et al., ) and quasi‐experimental study ( n = 2; Johnson et al., ; Pemberton & Turpin, ).…”

Wellness room as a strategy to reduce occupational stress: quasi-experimental study

“…Despite these promising results, relaxation interventions for reducing stress still present evidence of low to moderate quality, since several studies indicate that there are no significant differences between massage for physical and mental relaxation and meditation techniques, such as mindfulness (18) . A study conducted in hospital units in Arizona (United States) showed that aromatherapy, more specifically the diffusion of therapeutic lavender essential oil in the nursing work environment in complex care sectors, decreased work-related stress and increased satisfaction, since good olfactory experiences can promote well-being (37) . Regarding auricular acupuncture, the literature indicates that it reduces not only stress levels, but also anxiety and pain, increasing coping strategies and improving the quality of mental life of the nursing team (38)(39) .…”