Effect of inhalation aromatherapy on pain, anxiety, and SLEEP quality in burn patients

This randomized, placebo-controlled experimental study was carried out to assess the effect of inhalation aromatherapy using lavender essential oil on burn patients' pain, anxiety, and sleep quality. The universe of the research comprised patients admitted at the Adult Burn Treatment Center of the Ministry of Health Ankara City Hospital between October 1, 2021, and April 15, 2022. The sample consisted of sixty individuals who matched the inclusion criteria. The study was conducted with intervention inhaled aromatherapy (n=30) and control placebo (n=30) administered groups. The data of the study were collected by face-to-face interview technique using the "Individual Data Collection Form", "Visual Analog Scale", "State-Trait Anxiety Inventory", and "Richard Campbell Sleep Scale". Chi-square, Independent Samples T-test, Greenhouse-Geisser, Bonferroni, Dunn, Mann-Whitney-U, Repeated Measures ANOVA, and Friedman tests were used for data analysis. It was determined that the mean age of the patients was 42.97±13.48 years, 63.3% were male, 71.6% were married, 43.3% were primary school graduates, 33.3% of them have chronic disease, and 40.0% smoked. Burns occurred in the workplace in 46.6% of the patients, burns occurred due to contact with flame in 46.6%, 2nd degree deep burns occurred in 93.3% of the patients, the average burn rate was 11.4±8.1%, and 65.0% had burns on the hands and arms, 98.3% of them had an invasive procedure due to burns was determined. The pain levels of the patients in the intervention group decreased significantly from the 3rd day compared to the patients in the control group (p<0.05), and there was no statistically significant difference in the anxiety levels measured on the 6th day compared to the intervention and control groups (p>0.05), sleep quality of the patients in the intervention group was higher than the patients in the control group, starting from the 3rd day (p<0.05) was determined. It was determined that inhalation aromatherapy applied to burn patients decreased the pain level and increased the sleep quality. Health professionals can apply inhalation aromatherapy to reduce pain and improve sleep quality in burn patients.