J Korean Acad Nurs JKAN Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing 2005-3673 Korean Society of Nursing Science 10.4040/jkan.2009.39.3.357 Original Article The Effects of Aromatherapy on Stress and Stress Responses in Adolescents Seo Ji-Yeong Full-time Lecturer, Department of Nursing, Youngnam Foreign Language College, Gyeongsan, Korea. Address reprint requests to: Seo, Ji-Yeong. Department of Nursing, Youngnam Foreign Language College, 220-1 Hyeopseok-ri, Namcheon-myeon, Gyeongsan 712-717, Korea. Tel: 82-53-810-7763, Fax: 82-53-810-0199, marseo@hanmail.net 06 2009 29 06 2009 39 3 357 365 13 08 2008 18 05 2009 Copyright © 2009 Korean Society of Nursing Science 2009 Purpose

This study was done to examine the effects of aromatherapy on stress and stress responses in adolescents.

 Methods

A two-group cross-over design was used for this study. The experimental treatment was aroma essential oil inhalation and the placebo treatment was carrier oil inhalation using a necklace. The sample included 36 female high school students. Fisher's exact test, t-test, and paired t-test using SPSS/WIN program were used to analyze the data.

 Results

Stress levels were significantly lower when the students received the aroma treatment compared to when they received the placebo treatment. The stress responses except salivary IgA levels were significantly lower when the students received the aroma treatment.

 Conclusion

Aroma inhalation could be a very effective stress management method for high school students. Therefore, it is recommended that this program be used in clinical practice as an effective nursing intervention for high school students.

 Aromatherapy Adolescents Stress Stress response

This study is a part of Ph.D. dissertation.

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Research design.

O1, O2, O3, O4=stress, anxiety, physical symptoms, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse rate (PR), Cortisol, IgA.

X1=aroma (bergamot essential oil) inhalation (solid line).

X2=placebo (carrier oil & artificial flavor) inhalation (dotted line).

Group 1=aroma inhalation-1st & Placebo inhalation-2nd; Group 2=placebo inhalation-1st & Aroma inhalation-2nd.

Homogeneity Test for General Characteristics between the Group 1 and Group 2 at Pre-test (O1) (N=36)

Group 1=aroma inhalation-1st & placebo inhalation-2nd; Group 2=placebo inhalation-1st & aroma inhalation-2nd.

Homogeneity Test for Dependent Variables at Pre-test (O1) (N=36)

Group 1=aroma inhalation-1st & placebo inhalation-2nd; Group 2=placebo inhalation-1st & aroma inhalation-2nd; SBP=systolic blood pressure; DBP=diastolic blood pressure; PR=pulse rate; IgA=immunoglobulin A.

Stress Score and Stress Response per Every Period in Group 1 and Group 2

O1 & O3 was pre-test in both group 1 and group 2; O2 was after aroma inhalation in group 1, and after placebo inhalation in group 2; O4 was after placebo inhalation in group 1, and after aroma inhalation in group 2.

SBP=systolic blood pressure; DBP=diastolic blood pressure; PR=pulse rate; IgA=immunoglobulin A.

Changes in Stress Score and Stress Response between the Post-Aroma and Post-Placebo

Mean difference of aroma group=O2-O1 of Group 1 and O4-O3 of Group 2; Mean difference of placebo group=O4-O3 of Group 1 and O2-O1 of Group 2; SBP=systolic blood pressure; DBP=diastolic blood pressure; PR=pulse rate; IgA=immunoglobulin A.