Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of aromatherapy massage on
dysmenorrhea. The study used a quasiexperimental design with the subjects as their
own control. Every participant applied both aromatherapy massage with lavender oil
and placebo massage with odorless liquid petrolatum [soft paraffin]. The population
comprised 438 midwifery and nursing students. The 150 students who had declared that
they had suffered from dysmenorrhea used a visual analog scale to indicate their level
of pain. Higher scores reflected a greater severity of dysmenorrhea. Forty-four students
volunteered to participate in the study. When the lavender massage and the placebo
massage were compared, the visual analog scale score of the lavender massage was found
to decrease at a statistically significant rate. This study showed that massage was
effective in reducing dysmenorrhea. In addition, this study showed that the effect
of aromatherapy massage on pain was higher than that of placebo massage.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 13, 2010
Accepted:
April 22,
2010
Received in revised form:
April 21,
2010
Received:
September 30,
2009
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 American Society for Pain Management Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
