Nurses and others involved in the care of patients in acute care hospitals work in environments that are fast paced, unpredictable and demanding. These job demands are significantly related to occupational fatigue and stress among nurses. Nurses’ exposure to stress can negatively impact caring behaviors as well as their own health-related quality of life. Nurses should be encouraged to participate in self-care techniques. Having technique, such as aromatherapy, available on the nursing unit is one strategy to facilitate self-care for nurses. Aromatherapy may contribute to a healthy work environment, decrease stress and increase happiness among nursing staff. Aromatherapy has been defined as the therapeutic use of essential oils to promote or improve health and well-being. A number of essential oils, especially citrus-based oils such as bergamot, lemon, and orange, are classified in a psychoaroma therapeutic group, and are recommended to relieve anxiety and stress, and elevate mood. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of aroma therapy on stress and happiness among nursing staff
Aim/objectives of the study
The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of aroma therapy on stress and happiness among nursing staff. This was a quasi-experimental study using a pre/post intervention design. The specific aims were: Did individual levels of happiness increase following the introduction of aromatherapy? Did individual levels of stress decrease following the introduction of aromatherapy? Did the nursing staff perceive a positive impact of aromatherapy on their own health-related quality of life?
Method
Following IRB approval, a pre-intervention survey was conducted. All staff on selected nursing unit at the two campuses of the hospital system were invited to participate. The survey was anonymous, but participants were asked to create a unique identifier to allowing matching of pre and post intervention responses. The intervention was an aromatherapy atomizer placed in a central location on each nursing unit. The policy and procedure for the use of an atomizer in the clinical area was approved by the appropriate committees within the healthcare organization. After the intervention was available for a 4-week period, all staff on the selected nursing units received the post intervention survey. Both the pre and post intervention survey included the Subjective Happiness Survey (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999), the Measure of Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarch & Mermelstein, 1983) and two-demographic items (age and position). In addition, the pre-intervention survey included 2 items about the participants’ experience with or knowledge about aromatherapy. The post-intervention survey included 2 items about the participant’s use of the aromatherapy intervention on the nursing unit and a place for comments. Analysis included descriptive statistics, paired t-tests, ANOVA, and regression equations to control for prior experience with aromatherapy. Content analysis was used with the responses in the comments box.
Findings
The results examined a change in happiness and stress score pre and post the introduction of the aromatherapy intervention. Change in score was analyzed at the level of the individual participant, the participants grouped by unit and between similar units on the two hospital campuses. Prior experience with aroma therapy had no effect on the magnitude of change in scores on the pre and post intervention survey. Qualitative findings identified that the majority of the participants had a positive reaction to the intervention and felt it was a useful resource to re-energize and to re-charge during a change in knowledge and desire to apply mindfulness in practice.
Conclusions/Implications
Aromatherapy can have a positive impact on the levels of happiness and stress experienced by nursing staff. These findings support the need for on-going activities on the nursing unit for the individual staff member to re-energize, re-charge or calm self throughout the work day.