The Effect of Aromatherapy on Anxiety in Mothers with Premature Infants: A Clinical Trial Study

Background: Mothers of premature infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)experience stress and anxiety. Reducing anxiety in mothers is essential to ensure the quality of carefor infants with special needs after discharge. Non-pharmacological methods of managing anxiety areencouraged for breastfeeding mothers.Aim: This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of aromatherapy with Damask Rose (DR) onanxiety in mothers with premature infants admitted to NICU.Method: In this clinical trial study, ۷۵ eligible mothers selected through convenience samplingmethod were randomly assigned into intervention and control groups. In addition to the routine care,the mothers in the intervention group received a ۵-۱۰-minutes inhaled aromatherapy with ۱۰% DR forten consecutive nights. The mothers of the control group only received routine care. The tools of thestudy were a demographic information form and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Data wereanalyzed using SPSS statistical software (version ۲۲). P<۰.۰۵ was considered statistically significant.Results: The mean scores of state anxiety significantly reduced in the intervention (۴۸.۸۸±۱۰.۱۶ to۴۰.۶۸±۸.۶۲) and control groups (۵۲.۳۰±۷.۴۰ to ۵۱.۲۷±۷.۳۰). Due to the significant difference betweenchange in before-after scores in the two groups, aromatherapy was more effective than routine care inreducing anxiety (P<۰.۰۰۰۱). Also, the mean score of trait anxiety significantly decreased from۴۹.۱۴±۹.۹۹ to ۴۴.۳۷±۱۰.۰ in the intervention group (P<۰.۰۰۰۱).Implications for Practice: Aromatherapy with DR decreases anxiety in mothers of preterm infantshospitalized in the NICU; therefore, it can be recommended for the management of anxiety in thispopulation.