Aromatherapy with inhalation effectively alleviates the test anxiety of college students: A meta-analysis
- PMID: 36687893
- PMCID: PMC9853416
- DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1042553
Aromatherapy with inhalation effectively alleviates the test anxiety of college students: A meta-analysis
Abstract
Objective: Test anxiety is one of the common psychological and behavioral problems of college students, which can result in poor academic performance and even academic failure. Aromatherapy has been proposed as a promising method to reduce test anxiety in college students, but its precise efficacy has not been fully confirmed. This meta-analysis evaluated the effects of aromatherapy on the symptoms of test anxiety in college students to serve as a reference for future research and provide more scientific and exact evidence.
Methods: PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, Science Direct, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Science and Technology Journal Full-Text Database (VIP), and Wanfang Data were electronically searched from inception to June 2022 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on aromatherapy for treating students' test anxiety. The Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for RCTs was used by two reviewers to critically and independently assess the methodological quality of the included studies. Review Manager 5.4 was used for the meta-analysis. Stata 17.0 was used for sensitivity analysis and Egger's test.
Results: Seven RCTs included 425 patients, with a moderate risk of bias in the included studies. The meta-analysis found that aromatherapy effectively reduced test anxiety in college students (SMD = -0.67, p < 0.01), with high heterogeneity of results (I 2 = 72%). The different types of essential oil devices used in the study are the source of inter-study heterogeneity. Subgroup analysis suggested that most effective methods were aromatherapy with compound essential oils (SMD = -0.91, p < 0.01), and using cloths or pads as the essential oil devices (SMD = -1.03, p < 0.01). There was no difference between aromatherapy and placebo control groups (SMD = -0.65, p = 0.25).
Conclusion: Aromatherapy with inhalation can help relieve test anxiety in college students, but more and higher-quality studies are needed. This study provides a reference for future research designs in terms of the selection of essential oil types and devices and the design of research groups.
Systematic review registration: [https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/], identifier [CRD42022345767].
Keywords: complementary therapy; essential oils; exam anxiety; students; systematic review.
Copyright © 2023 Luan, Yang, Zhao, Zang, Zhang and Chen.
Conflict of interest statement
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Figures
Similar articles
-
Folic acid supplementation and malaria susceptibility and severity among people taking antifolate antimalarial drugs in endemic areas.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022 Feb 1;2(2022):CD014217. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD014217. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022. PMID: 36321557 Free PMC article.
-
The effectiveness of aromatherapy on preoperative anxiety in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Int J Nurs Stud. 2020 Nov;111:103747. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2020.103747. Epub 2020 Aug 12. Int J Nurs Stud. 2020. PMID: 32861206 Review.
-
Aromatherapy with inhalation can effectively improve the anxiety and depression of cancer patients: A meta-analysis.Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2022 Jul-Aug;77:118-127. doi: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2022.05.004. Epub 2022 May 18. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2022. PMID: 35617792 Review.
-
Aromatherapy with single essential oils can significantly improve the sleep quality of cancer patients: a meta-analysis.BMC Complement Med Ther. 2022 Jul 14;22(1):187. doi: 10.1186/s12906-022-03668-0. BMC Complement Med Ther. 2022. PMID: 35836211 Free PMC article.
-
The Effects of Aromatherapy on Anxiety and Depression in People With Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Front Public Health. 2022 May 30;10:853056. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.853056. eCollection 2022. Front Public Health. 2022. PMID: 35757624 Free PMC article.
Cited by
-
Interventions for psychiatric disorders among university students: An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2024 Jan-Mar;24(1):100431. doi: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2023.100431. Epub 2024 Jan 12. Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2024. PMID: 38287943 Free PMC article.
-
BOX38, a DNA Marker for Selection of Essential Oil Yield of Rosa × rugosa.Biomolecules. 2023 Feb 25;13(3):439. doi: 10.3390/biom13030439. Biomolecules. 2023. PMID: 36979374 Free PMC article.
References
-
- Bekhradi R., Vakilian K. (2016). The effect of lavender aromatherapy on test anxiety in female students. Curr. Womens Health Rev. 12 137–140. 10.2174/1573404812666161021114923 - DOI
-
- Cassady J. C. (2004). The influence of cognitive test anxiety across the learning–testing cycle. Learn. Instr. 14 569–592. 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2004.09.002 - DOI
Publication types
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources