跳至主要内容

Effectiveness of Aromatherapy Treatment in Alleviating Fatigue and Promoting Relaxation of Mothers during the Early Postpartum Period

A postpartum (or postnatal) period begins immediately after the birth of a child and extends for about six weeks, as the mother’s body, including hormone levels and uterus size, returns to a non-pregnant state. Fatigue and lack of energy have been accepted as common effects of childbirth in the postpartum period, with fatigue causing mothers to experience negative feelings and become uncomfortable. Some studies have shown that fatigue in the early postpartum period is significantly related to and is a predictor of postpartum depression. Therefore, to reduce the risk of maternity blues, it is important for early postpartum mothers to have relaxing experiences and fatigue reduction so that they can take care of their child with peace of mind.

In this study, the authors aimed to determine the effectiveness of aroma hand treatment in alleviating fatigue and promoting relaxation of mothers in their early postpartum period. A quasi-experimental study was conducted with a two-group pretest-post-test design which used purposive sampling and non-random assignment of 242 consenting Japanese early postpartum mothers who were patients from a hospital maternity unit in Tokyo, Japan. The intervention involved a 20-minute aroma hand treatment using an effleurage method. The participants selected from 5 essential oils: pure lavender, ylang-ylang, citron, rosewood, and sweet orange. Relaxation promotion and fatigue alleviation as the main outcomes were measured using self-administered valid and reliable questionnaires. Statistical analysis was performed using the two-sample t-test, two-way factorial ANOVA, and simple main effect test. SPSS ver. 23.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA) was used for data analysis at a 5% significance level. 

Of 242 participants (intervention group, n = 122; comparison group, n = 120), 229 participants (intervention group, n = 115; comparison group, n = 114) were analyzed per protocol. The intervention group showed a significant improvement in relaxation (t = 6.43, p < 0.001). A significant difference in the simple main effect test of relaxation (F = 37.58, p < 0.001) was found. However, there was no significant reduction in fatigue. The majority (88.4%) of the participants indicated high satisfaction with the aroma hand treatment, and 90.5% evaluated the length of intervention time as appropriate. 

In conclusion, the aroma hand treatment effectively promoted relaxation of early postpartum mothers, but was less effective in alleviating their fatigue. Based on their high satisfaction rate, aroma hand treatment using essential oils may be considered effective in promoting relaxation of early postpartum mothers. Further points for improvement included the proper use of essential oils to avoid aroma shortage and the correct choice of the essential oil to relieve particular symptoms.


Article by Kyoko Asazawa, et al, from Japan.

Full access: http://mrw.so/9L7UU
Photo credit: wuestenigel on Visualhunt/CC BY.

评论

发表评论

此博客中的热门博文

Incorporation of High-Altitude Balloon Experiment in High School Science Classrooms

High-altitude balloon is a balloon, filled usually with helium or hydrogen that ascends into an area called “near space” or stratosphere. The most common type of high-altitude balloons are weather balloons. Other purposes include use as a platform for experiments in the upper atmosphere. Modern balloons generally contain electronic equipment such as radio transmitters, cameras, or satellite navigation systems, such as GPS receivers. The mission of the High-Altitude Balloon Experiment (HABE) is to acquire supporting data, validate enabling technologies, and resolve critical acquisition, tracking, and pointing (ATP) and fire control issues in support of future space-based precision pointing experiments. The use of high-altitude balloons offers a relatively low-cost, low-vibration test platform, a recoverable and reusable payload, worldwide launch capability, and a 'near- space' emulation of the future space systems operational scenarios. More recently, several university...
1 条评论
阅读全文

The Influence of Heated Soil in Crop of “Tamaris” Tomato Plants on the Biological Activity of the Rhizosphere Soil

Tomato is a plant with high heat requirements and sensitive to cold weather and frost. The optimum temperature for the growth of tomato plants is between 21˚C and 27˚C during the day and between 17˚C and 21˚C at night. The soil temperature is also very important for plant growth. The optimum soil temperature for tomato cultivation should be within the range 15˚C - 18˚C. Besides, the proper development of the root system depends on the optimal temperature of the soil. A temperature below 14˚C reduces and inhibits the growth of the root system and encourages the development of fungal and bacterial diseases. In this study, the authors aimed to evaluate the effect of heated soil on the population of bacteria, fungi and nematodes inhabiting the soil of tomato cultivar “Tamaris” growing in peat and coconut substrates. The experiment was carried out in 12 treatments and in 3 replications (one slab was one replication). The soils were tested in two different types of containers: cylinders...
发表评论
阅读全文

Effect of Proline Pretreatment on Grapevine Shoot-Tip Response to a Droplet-Vitrification Protocol

Proline is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. Some studies have shown that proline has been accumulated in plants in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Exogenous proline has thus been used for improving some plant cryopreservation protocols. Further enhancement of cryopreservation efficiency for  in vitro  grapevines could be expected if stresses linked to cryopreservation procedures could be reduced. In this study, the authors studied the possible beneficial effect of proline in grapevine cryopreservation. Single-node explants from  in vitro  grown grapevine plantlets ( Vitis vinifera  L. cv Portan) were cultured on shooting media (half-strength MS + 1 μM BAP) containing no proline (control) or 50, 500, or 2000 μM filter-sterilized L-proline. Shoot tips excised from these microshoots were subjected to a PVS2-based droplet-vitrification procedure. Control and rewarmed explants were grown on a recovery medium containing ...
发表评论
阅读全文