Effects of Aromatherapy to Improve Anxiety, Depression,Fatigue and Quality of Life for Breast Cancer

• Main Authors: A-Von Wang, 王雅芳
• Other Authors: Mei-Chi Hsu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/65650085885877369487

碩士 === 義守大學 === 管理學院管理碩士在職專班 === 99 === Cancer has become the number-one cause of death in Taiwan in which breast cancer is also the first leading cause of death in women. Although cancer treatments help to relieve and control cancer symptoms and extend the lives of late-stage patients, cancer patients can experience side effects and uncomfortable health problems long after their cancer treatments. Consequently, these can significantly impair a patient’s quality of life. Aromatherapy is one of the complementary and alternative medicines used for various health problems and has become increasingly popular. Despite renewed interest in the use of aromatherapy, relatively few studies have been undertaken to examine its effects on breast cancer women, hence the motivation for this study. This was a randomized, controlled trial that examined the effects of aromatherapy with lavender in comparison with aromatherapy with sunflower carrier oils on the improvement of anxiety, depression, fatigue and quality of life of patients with breast cancer. A total of 40 breast cancer patients from a hospital were recruited and randomly assigned to either experimental or control groups. The experimental group received aromatherapy with lavender essential oil once a day from 4 to 6 pm for a total of 10 days. The control group received aromatherapy with sunflower carrier oils. Every session lasted about two hours. All subjects completed necessary outcome measures prior to (pre-test), after (post-test) and a week after (follow-up) the intervention. In the results, both groups showed significantly improvements in anxiety, depression and fatique after and a week after the intervention. The experimental group showed relatively higher scores of the physical and mental dimensions of quality of life after and a week after the intervention, which was significantly different, as compared with the control group. Furthermore, in the experimental group, the results showed significant differences in state anxiety scores before, after and a week after the intervention; the scores of trait anxiety and fatigue were significantly different in both pre- vs. post-test and pre-test vs.follow-up. In the experimental group, depression was significantly different in both pre- vs. post-test and pre-test vs.follow-up. The physical dimension of quality of life was significantly different from pre-test to follow-up. The scores of depression and fatigure were negatively associated with quality of life in the experimental group. This study demonstrated that aromatherapy with lavandar is effective for the improvement of anxiety, depression, fatigue and quality of life of patients with breast cancer. Further investigation is warranted, with larger samples and longer intervention.