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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2022 May-Jun;18(3):272-278.
doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2020.12.012. Epub 2021 Jan 9.

The effects of Lavender and Chamomile essential oil inhalation aromatherapy on depression, anxiety and stress in older community-dwelling people: A randomized controlled trial

Hossein Ebrahimi  1 , Abbas Mardani  2 , Mohammad Hasan Basirinezhad  3 , Azam Hamidzadeh  4 , Fatemeh Eskandari  5
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

The effects of Lavender and Chamomile essential oil inhalation aromatherapy on depression, anxiety and stress in older community-dwelling people: A randomized controlled trial

Hossein Ebrahimi et al. Explore (NY). 2022 May-Jun.

Abstract

Background: Considering the prevalence of mental health problems in older adults, this study aims to investigate the effect of inhalation aromatherapy using lavender and chamomile essential oils on depression, anxiety, and stress of community-dwelling older people.

Methods: A three-armed, parallel, randomized, and controlled trial design was used in this study. 183 participants were enrolled and randomly assigned to three groups (n = 61): the lavender, chamomile, and control groups. The participants in the experimental groups inhaled three drops of 1.5% lavender and chamomile essential oils for 30 nights. The participants in the control group inhaled only distilled water in a similar fashion. Data were collected using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress-Scale (DASS) at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and one month after the intervention. Chi-square, Fisher's exact, one-way ANOVA, and repeated measures ANOVA were used for data analysis.

Results: Statistically significant improvement occurred in depression, anxiety, and stress levels immediately and one month after the intervention in lavender and chamomile groups compared to the control group (p < 0.01).

Conclusion: Inhalation aromatherapy with both lavender and chamomile essential oils helped decrease depression, anxiety, and stress levels in community-dwelling older adults.

Keywords: Aromatherapy; Chamomile; Lavender; Mental health; Older adult.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, analyses, or interpretation, writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

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