Effect of Aromatherapy with Rosa Damascena Essential Oil on Nurses' Occupational Stress in the Emergency Department: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background: Emergency personnel are frequently exposed to high-risk physical and psychological factors that lead to increased occupational stress. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of aromatherapy with rosa damascena essential oil on nurses' occupational stress in the emergency department. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted among sixty nurses in the trauma center of Besat Hospital, Tehran. The participants were selected by the convenience sampling method, and then randomly assigned to the aromatherapy with essential oil of Rosa damascena and control groups. Intervention in the experimental and control groups consisted of inhalation cotton swabs impregnated with two drops of essential oil of 40% Rosa damascena (Gole Mohammadi) and cotton soaked with two drops of distilled water as a placebo for 2 minutes, respectively. Nurses' stress level was assessed by the Nursing Stress Scale before and after the intervention. To analyze the data, independent t-test, paired t-test, and ANCOVA were performed in SPSS, version 22. Results: The mean age of the nurses was 29.07 ± 5.495 years, and the majority of them had a bachelor's degree. The results of this study showed that stress scores in the experimental group were lower than those in the control group after the intervention (p<0.0001). The effect size was -1.5, which was large and desirable. Nurses' occupational stress scores in the experimental group diminished significantly after the intervention (p=0.012). Conclusion: It is recommended to use complementary therapies such as aromatherapy with rose essential oil to reduce occupational stress in nurses. Further studies with larger sample sizes and in other occupational groups are recommended.

Keywords

• aromatherapy
• emergency
• nurses
• rosa damascena
• stress