the effect of damask rose aromatherapy on the anxiety of endoscopic candidate patients: clinical trial

the effect of damask rose aromatherapy on the anxiety of endoscopic candidate patients: clinical trial

background: anxiety is one of common problem among patients before exposure to invasive diagnostic techniques. one of these methods is gastrointestinal endoscopy. aromatherapy is one of the complementary therapies to reduce anxiety. this study aimed to determine the effect of aromatherapy essential oil on anxiety before endoscopy .materials and methods: this study is a clinical trial that was performed on patients referred to endoscopy department of razi hospital in rasht from 2018-2019. the study population was 70 patients that divided to intervention and control groups. after completing the informed consent form, demographic information questionnaire and spielberger anxiety questionnaire were completed. intervention group received aromatherapy with 10% damask rose essential oil and control group received aromatherapy with placebo for 30 minutes. anxiety questionnaire was completed again after aromatherapy.

the data were analysed by spss software version 21 using descriptive and inferential statistics (paired t-test, chi-square, pearson correlation coefficient and covariance test).results: results showed that the mean age of participants was 43.44±15.18 years. most of the participants were female. after the intervention, the mean score of anxiety in the aromatherapy group was lower than the control group with placebo, which was statistically significant (p=0.001, t=-3.53).conclusions: the results of this study showed that aromatherapy with damask rose essential oil was effective on pre-endoscopic anxiety in patients. since complementary medicine is increasingly devoted a part of nursing care, damask rose aromatherapy, due to its low cost, safety and simplicity, can be used as a complementary measure to reduce anxiety in patients before endoscopy.