Comparing the effect of foot reflexology with olive oil and peppermint inhalation on job stress and fatigue severity among emergency medical services workers

Abstract

Background: Emergency medical services (EMS) workers are constantly in exposure to intense physical and mental distress secondary to their obligatory at-once attendance to emergency medical situations. Objectives: This study’s aim was to compare the effect of foot reflexology with olive oil and peppermint inhalation on job stress and fatigue severity among the workers of EMS affiliated with the Zanjan University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This was a clinical trial conducted on 69 employees of urban and road EMS units. The subjects were randomly divided into three groups. The first intervention group received foot reflexology with olive oil in the stress- and fatigue-reduction regions of the feet for three 20-minute sessions over a 3-month period. For the second intervention group, three drops of 10% peppermint essential oil were poured on a gauze, which was held 10 cm away from the nose. The control group received no intervention. The data were collected using the Esipo and Spokane job stress questionnaire and the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). The data were analyzed by SPSS 21 software. Results: The results of the ANOVA test revealed no significant difference in the overall mean scores of fatigue severity and job stress between the study groups before the interventions; however, the mean scores of fatigue severity (P<0.002) and job stress (P<0.001) showed a statistically significant difference between the study groups after the intervention. Conclusion: Considering the effectiveness of both interventions, each of the interventions can be used to reduce the job stress and fatigue of emergency medical workers.

Keywords

• reflexology massage
• peppermint inhalation
• job stress
• fatigue severity