Use of aromatherapy for people with dementia

Uvod: Delovni terapevti za svoje delo pri osebah z demenco uporabljajo številne nefarmakološke načine zdravljenja oziroma lajšanja simptomov demence, eden od teh je lahko tudi aromaterapija. Aromaterapija blaži vedenjske in psihološke simptome demence ter tako prispeva k večji učinkovitosti delovnoterapevtskih obravnav in večji kakovosti življenja oseb z demenco. Namen: Raziskati učinek aromaterapije na osebe z demenco, s poudarkom na okupaciji spanja. Metode dela: Uporabljen je bil kvalitativni pristop s pregledom literature. Literatura je bila iskana v podatkovnih bazah Sciencedirect, Cohrane library, Medline – Pubmed in Whiley Online Library. Pri iskanju so bile uporabljene ključne besede: senzorna stimulacija, olfaktorna stimulacija, demenca, spanje, kakovost spanja in eterična olja – v slovenskem in angleškem jeziku. Vključitveni kriteriji so bili članki v slovenskem ali angleškem jeziku, ki so v celoti dostopni in mlajši od deset let ter v naslovu ali ključnih besedah vsebuje besede, uporabljene pri iskanju literature. Pregled literature je bil izveden po modelu PRISMA. Rezultati: V končno analizo je bilo vključenih deset člankov. Ena raziskava je bila kvalitativna, šlo je za akcijsko raziskovanje. Ostale raziskave so bile kvantitativne, in sicer štiri randomizirane kontrolirane raziskave, dve nerandomitirani kontrolirani raziskavi, dve pilotni študiji in ena eksperimentalna raziskava. Pri tematski kvalitativni analizi smo iz člankov izluščili sledeče teme: učinek aromaterapije na spanje, učinek aromaterapije na vedenjske in psihološke simptome demence, učinek aromaterapije na kratkoročni in dolgoročni spomin, učinek aromaterapije na izvedbo dnevnih aktivnosti, varnost aromaterapije, učinek aromaterapije na obremenjenost oskrbovalcev. V raziskavah so bile uporabljene različne oblike aromaterapije. Ugotovljeno je bilo, da je aromaterapija učinkovita pri izboljšanju delovanja oseb z demenco in zmanjšanju težav na področju spanja pri teh osebah. Razprava in zaključek: Aromaterapija se je izkazala za varno terapijo, ki lahko izboljša spanje in spomin ter zmanjšuje vedenjske in psihološke simptome demence, ni pa učinkovita pri izboljšanju izvajanja dnevnih aktivnosti. Uporabljajo se lahko različne oblike aromaterapije, kot bolj učinkovite pa so se izkazale tiste, ki aromaterapijo kombinirajo z dotikom. V delovni terapiji se lahko uporablja kot intervencija, ki podpira izvajanje okupacije, kot pasivna aktivnost in za krepitev terapevtskega odnosa.Introduction: For their work with people with dementia occupational therapists use non-pharmacological methods of treatment or alleviation of dementia symptoms, one of which can be aromatherapy. Aromatherapy alleviates the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, thus contributing to greater effectiveness of occupational therapy treatments and higher quality of life for people with dementia. Purpose: To investigate the effect of aromatherapy on people with dementia, with an emphasis on sleep occupation. Methods: A qualitative approach with literature review was used. The literature was searched in the databases Sciencedirect, Cohrane library, Medline – Pubmed and Whiley Online Library. The keywords sensory stimulationa, olfactory stimulation, dementia, sleep, sleep quality and essential oils were used in the search - in Slovene and English. The inclusion criteria were articles in Slovenian or English that are fully accessible and less than ten years old, and that contain words used in the literature search in the title or keywords. The literature review was performed according to the PRISMA model. Results: The final analysis included ten articles. One research was qualitative, it was action research. Other researches were quantitative, namely four randomised controlled trials, two non-randomised controlled trials, two pilot studies and one experimental study. In the thematic qualitative analysis, we extracted the following topics from the articles: the effect of aromatherapy on sleep, the effect of aromatherapy on the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, the effect of aromatherapy on short- and long-term memory, the effect of aromatherapy on the performance of daily activities, the safety of aromatherapy, the effect of aromatherapy on the burden of caregivers of people with dementia. Different forms of aromatherapy have been used in research. Aromatherapy has been found to be effective in improving functioning and reducing sleep problems in people with dementia. Discussion and conclusion: Aromatherapy has been proven to be safe therapy that can improve sleep and memory and reduce behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, but is not effective in improving the performance of daily activities. Different forms of aromatherapy can be used, but those that combine aromatherapy with touch have been proven to be more effective. In occupational therapy it can be used as an intervention that supports the implementation of occuppation, passive activity and to strengthen the therapeutic relationship