This study is a quasi-experimental research which attempts to establish the effects of aroma hand massage on hospitalization stress, anxiety, and sleep of elderly patients who are hospitalized.
The subjects of this study were elderly patients over ...
This study is a quasi-experimental research which attempts to establish the effects of aroma hand massage on hospitalization stress, anxiety, and sleep of elderly patients who are hospitalized.
The subjects of this study were elderly patients over the age of 65 who have been hospitalized in the medical ward of I university hospital, a total of 66 subjects, with the control group composed of 34 people and experimental group composed of 32 people according to selection criteria. Non-equivalent control group cross time difference design was used for the experiment in order to minimize diffusion of experimental effects. Data collection period was designated from September 10 to November 10, 2010, and research was achieved in the order of pilot survey, pre test, 3 days of experimental intervention, and post test. As a part of the research, ordinary nursing was applied to control group, and for the experiment, bergamot, lavender, and roman camomile oil were mixed in 2:1:1 ratio to execute aroma hand massage on both hands of patient for 10 minutes per day, 5 minutes per hand, for 3 days. The measurement variables of this study were hospitalization stress, anxiety and sleep. Collected data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics, Χ²-test, Fisher's exact test and t-test.
The results of this study were as follows:
1) Hypothesis 1 : "Experimental group receiving aroma hand massage will present lower hospitalization stress score when compared to control group not receiving aroma hand massage" was supported. (t= -2.648, p= .010)
2) Hypothesis 2 : "Experimental group receiving aroma hand massage will present lower anxiety score when compared to control group not receiving aroma hand massage" was supported(t= -4.166, p= .000).
3) Hypothesis 3 : "Experimental group receiving aroma hand massage will present higher sleep measurement score when compared to control group not receiving aroma hand massage" was supported(t= 2.328 , p= .023).
Such results above showed that short-term application of aroma hand massage for hospitalized elderly patients positively affected on hospitalization stress, anxiety, and sleep. Therefore, it is necessary to applied aroma hand massage as an efficient and independent nursing intervention for reducing stress response and enhancing sleep of the elderly that had been hospitalized in general hospitals with chronic disease.