Investigation on the effectiveness inhalation aromatherapy with Lavender essential oil on the anxiety of patients with burns

Introduction: Anxiety is a common reported response of burnt people after the physical and emotional trauma .The aim of this study is the evaluation of the effect of inhalation aromatherapy with Lavender essential oil on the level anxiety among burn patients hospitalized in burn ward of Arak Vali-e-Asr hospital.\ud Methods: This study was a randomized clinical trial، in which Sixty patients hospitalized in burn unit selected by the convenience sampling and randomly assigned to either experimental or control groups. Of all the participants, written informed consent was received. During the three nights in the same way of intervention, the anxiety of the patients was assessed in both experimental and control groups، then for 20 minutes the patients in experimental group inhaled 2 drops of Lavender essential oil 2% in distilled water as aromatherapy and the patients in the control group inhaled 2 drops of distilled water as placebo. 20 minutes later, anxiety was recorded again. Data were collected using Spiel Berger questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS 16.\ud Results: In the present study, the effect of inhalation aromatherapy on reduction of anxiety was confirmed in the patients. The finding indicated that there was a significant reduction of severity of anxiety in the patient with burns in the experimental group comparing with control group. (P˂0.05).\ud Conclusion: Considering its low cost, safety and simplicity, inhalation aromatherapy with Lavender essential oil could be used as a supplement medicine in order to reduce anxiety in patients with burns