The effect of lavender essential oil aromatherapy on anxiety in pregnant women admitted to labor ward

Introduction: Anxiety is very common during childbirth. Aromatherapy is one of the ways to reduce anxiety. Lavender is a plant aromatic product that has sedative effects. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of aromatherapy of lavender essential oil on anxiety in pregnant women admitted to the labor ward.Materials and Methods: This study is a randomized clinical trial. The sample consisted of 70 women with first pregnancies who referred to the delivery center of Fatemieh Hospital in Hamadan, and selected based on the available sampling method, then by randomized block method in one of the two groups treated with placebo or Lavender essential oils were included. In the experimental group, a drop of lavender essential oil was inhaled for 15 minutes and in the control group, a drop of placebo was inhaled by mothers. The level of state and trait anxiety was measured in both groups before and 15, 60 and 90 minutes after the intervention by using the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using SPSS /21software.Results: In the experimental group, the difference between the mean scores of state anxiety before and 15, 60 and 90 minutes after the intervention was significant (P <0.05) and the level of anxiety after the intervention decreased (P <0.05). While in the control group, the level of stateanxiety had an increasing trend at all times after the intervention and there was a statistically significant difference in the control group before and after the intervention (P <0.05). There was no significant difference in the mean scores of trait anxiety before and after the intervention between the experimental and control groups (p <0.05).Conclusion: Aromatherapy of lavender essential oil is effective on labor anxiety in primiparous women and reduces maternal anxiety. Therefore, aromatherapy as one of the complementary medicine methods can be used to reduce maternal anxiety during childbirth.

Keywords:

Aromatherapy , Essential Oil , Lavender , Anxiety , Childbirth , Labor