Evaluation of the effect of aromatherapy massage applied to patients after colorectal surgery on early period symptom control

INTRODUCTION and OBJECTIVE: In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the effect of aromatherapy massage applied to patients after colorectal cancer surgery on early period symptom control. MATERIALS and METHOD: The study was conducted between April 2021 and March 2023 as a randomized controlled trial with a pretest-posttest design. In the study, two intervention an done control group were handled (n=90). Massage applications were applied to the foot area in the first three days postoperatively. Patient Description Form, Visual Analog Scale-Pain, Visual Analog Scale-Fatigue, Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire, State Anxiety Inventory, Postoperative Nausea-Vomiting Impact Scale were used to collect data. Data analysis was done with parametric methods. FINDINGS: The diagnosis of 46 (51.1%) patients was colon cancer, 50 (55.6%) were male. While postoperative pain differed significantly over time in all three groups; the immediate effect was found to be greater in the aromatherapy group. There was no significant difference between the massage groups in terms of fatigue. In terms of anxiety levels, a significant difference was determined in the instant and long-term effects in the massage groups. Nausea-vomiting levels decreased significantly over time in all three groups. Sleep quality scores were higher in the massage groups compared to the control group on the second postoperative day. CONCLUSION: Both types of massage are effective in reducing post-operative anxiety in terms of short-term and long-term effects; the immediate effect on postoperative pain was higher in the aromatherapy massage group; it was determined that massage applications did not have a significant effect on fatigue and nausea-vomiting levels. It was observed that the sleep quality was higher in the massage groups on the second postoperative day.