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Effect of Aromatherapy on Perceived Mental Health Parameters for Academic Department Workers Working From Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Study.
- Source :
- Global Advances in Integrative Medicine & Health; 7/25/2024, p1-8, 8p
- Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- Background: Before the COVID-19 pandemic began, medical staff and academic department workers reported increasing levels of stress and burnout because of strain on the health care system. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this strain and introduced several novel stressors, which included transitioning to remote work. Safe and scalable strategies are needed to help health care workers cope with these stressors. Aromatherapy may help address this need. Objectives: To assess the effect of 2 aromatherapy interventions (essential oil blends termed STILL and FOCUS) on perceived mental/psychological health parameters for academic department workers working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Participants were advised to use STILL for 5 days (Monday through Friday). After a 2-day washout period (Saturday and Sunday), participants were instructed to use FOCUS for 5 days (Monday through Friday). Participants completed a visual analog scale survey evaluating restlessness, fatigue, anxiety, stress, happiness, energy, relaxation, calmness, and well-being before and after each of the 2 intervention periods. Results: Twenty academic department remote workers participated in the study. Mental/psychological health surveys were completed by 6 participants before and after using STILL and by 10 before and after using FOCUS. Five participants answered all survey questions before and after both interventions. Although mean (SD) perceived stress scores improved after both the STILL (4.3 [2.3] vs 1.8 [1.7], P =.03) and FOCUS (2.9 [2.3] vs 1.5 [1.4], P =.02) interventions, this improvement was not statistically significant after Bonferroni correction (adjusted α =.006). Most participants (73.3%) reported that participating in the study was worthwhile, and 81.3% indicated that they would recommend aromatherapy to others. Conclusions: The STILL and FOCUS aromatherapy interventions did not significantly improve mental/psychological health parameters for remote academic department workers, although perceived stress was marginally improved and participants reported a perceived benefit from using aromatherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- MENTAL health
ACADEMIC medical centers
PSYCHOLOGICAL burnout
PSYCHOMOTOR disorders
DATA analysis
MEDICAL care
ESSENTIAL oils
VISUAL analog scale
FATIGUE (Physiology)
PILOT projects
KRUSKAL-Wallis Test
TREATMENT effectiveness
PSYCHOLOGICAL adaptation
ANXIETY
MANN Whitney U Test
DESCRIPTIVE statistics
AROMATHERAPY
ALLIED health personnel
HOSPITAL medical staff
PSYCHOLOGICAL stress
HAPPINESS
STATISTICS
JOB stress
TELECOMMUTING
COVID-19 pandemic
RELAXATION for health
WELL-being
EVALUATION
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 27536130
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Global Advances in Integrative Medicine & Health
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 178653490
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1177/27536130241267748