Effects of aroma hand massage on stress, fatigue, and sleep in nursing students

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of aroma hand massage on stress, fatigue, and sleep in sophomore nursing students. Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental design with a nonequivalent control group and a pre-post test was used. Thirty-seven sophomore nursing students were recruited. The experimental group (n=18) underwent 40 minutes aroma hand massage which was provided by the research assistant. The research assistant was trained with a video clip for aroma hand massage that was developed by Korea Aroma Association. Aroma oil contained lavender essential oil and sweet orange oil mixed with a jojoba oil base. The control group (n=19) did not receive any other treatments related aroma and massage. Results: Significant improvements were exhibited in scores for stress (t=-2.61, p=.013) and fatigue in the experimental group (t=-2.05, p=.047) compared to the control group. However, differences in sleep between two groups were not statistically significant (t=1.23, p=.277) between two groups. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that aroma hand massage could be useful to decrease stress and fatigue levels for sophomore nursing students. Therefore, results of this study can be used as a basis of health care programs for reducing stress of nursing students.