The Effect of Aromatherapy on Sleep Quality of Elderly People Residing in a Nursing Home.
Holist Nurs Pract. 2018 Jan/Feb;32(1):8-16. doi: 10.1097/HNP.0000000000000244.
Author information: Faydalı S1, Çetinkaya F. 1 Nursing Department, Faculty of Health Science, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey (Dr Faydalı); and Nursing Department, Faculty of Health Science, Aksaray University, Aksaray, Turkey (Dr Çetinkaya).
BACKGROUND: Sleep is important for health and quality of life in the elderly, and sleep disturbances are reported to be associated with many of the adverse medical conditions.
PURPOSE: This research was carried out to evaluate the effect of inhalation of lavender oil on sleep quality of nursing home residents.
METHODS: A questionnaire was used to evaluate sociodemographic characteristics and sleeping properties of the 30 volunteers, enrolled. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was applied as a pre- and posttest to measure sleep quality of individuals who inhaled lavender oil drops on the pillows every evening for a week before sleeping.
RESULTS: Before and after aromatherapy, the mean Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score of the nursing home residents was (Equation is included in full-text article.)= 6.0 ± 5.1 and (Equation is included in full-text article.)= 2.6 ± 3.4, respectively, whereas statistically significant difference was not observed for independent variables. Cronbach α reliability coefficient of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scale was found to be 0.816.
CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The results indicated an improvement of sleep quality of nursing home residents after the application of aromatherapy with lavender oil.