Objectives. Little studies were related to evaluate the effectiveness of inhaling essential oil to relieve the job related stress symptoms. This research was to examine the effectiveness of aromatherapy in reducing job stress-related symptoms among nurses.
Methods. This is a time series quasi-experimental design study. Nursing staff with job stress related symptoms more than 4.6 were recruited from a teaching hospital in southern Taiwan. The hospital nurses in the experimental group wore bottles containing lavender oil, while their counterparts in the control group were not exposed to any lavender oil.
Stress symptoms were examined by seven pre-tests and seven post-tests in both experimental group and control group.
Results. There were no significant differences in reduction of the job stress related symptoms between the experimental group and the control group. The number of job stress related symptoms were 1.7 symptoms in the experimental group after receiving lavender aromatherapy, while the number of job stress related symptoms represented decreased by 1.2 symptoms in the control group.
Conclusions. It is necessary to incorporate the skills and the knowledge of using aromatherapy into hospital continuing education programs. Future studies may change into the massage methods to evaluate the effectiveness of aromatherapy on stress alleviations.
