Evaluation of Aromatherapy on Academic Stress ((EAS))

Universiti Sains Malaysia

Status: Completed

Conditions: Academic Underachievement Disorder; Stress

Treatments: Drug: Lavender Oil; Other: Placebo

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03460626

IAU-ATCT

Details and patient eligibility

About

Stress affects the health and is prevalent among medicine and pharmacy students. A number of factors such as busy schedules, course load and lack of recreational time during semesters as well as exams, have been reported to be associated with stress. Study reports that the use of aroma oils especially those with relaxant properties can alleviate the level of stress. This study aims to investigate the effects of aroma oils in stress during exams in pharmacy students.

Full description

Stress is a disorder that affects human feelings through disturbance in behavior, thinking and mood. The mood disturbances further leads to mental, physical and emotional problems which affects the learning as well as thinking capabilities of individuals.Work load i.e. preparing for exams along with acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes have been reported as more stressful to cope up with, during university life of medical students. Exam load is reported as a major stressor and a number of studies have reported a suffering of 30% medical students due to exam stress. whereas some studies have reported a high stress level in 80% of college students during exams. No significant difference is observed for gender with regard to level of stress during exams. Besides course loads, exams, quizzes and busy schedule, academic competition among students for higher grades also promotes stress. This academic competition in students may sometimes be unavoidable. Alternative treatment namely aromatherapy, hydrotherapy and homeopathy are employed to reduce stress.

Aromatherapy is one of the alternative treatments in which oils extracted from natural sources such as flowers, petals and bark of plants are used to enhance the physical and psychological conditions of individuals. Various naturally extracted aromatic essences are applied in order to balance cognitive functions and memory retention. The aromatic essences/oils used in aromatherapy such as lavender oil, rosemary oil, jasmine oil, peppermint oil etc. are believed to stimulate cognitive function and are used for purposes of pain relieving, mood enhancement. Among these essences, lavender oil has been applied predominantly in oral administration, aromatherapy as well as massage therapy in many clinical studies exhibiting positive outcomes. Lavender oil reduces stress and produce relaxation via limbic system, particularly the amygdala and hippocampus.

A comparative study in 36 volunteers showed a reduced stress level in group using lavender oil as aromatherapy as compared to placebo group. Another study at Hong Kong University revealed the fact that aromatherapy may be utilized as an effective tool in order to alleviate pain, reduce depression and level of stress in older adults. A study in Iran among students, showed reduction in test-related anxiety with the use of Polianthes tuberosa essential oils. Similar study in students of Florida Atlantic University observed the vital effects of aroma oils and recommended the use of rosemary and lavender oil during exam for reducing stress level. In addition, lavender oil as stress reducer and leading towards relaxation during exam stress has been reported. Lavender oil as a cream along with a foot-bath, may be used in pregnant as well as non-pregnant females even, in order to reduce stress and anxiety. Based on aforementioned results, lavender oil may be effectively used to reduce the level of stress, produced due to any factor. However, none of the studies have reported the use of lavender oil in pharmacy students particularly during exams.

This study is aimed to target Pharmacy students at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia in order to evaluate the effect of aromatherapy i.e. lavender oil in stress among students during exams.

Enrollment: 49 patients

Sex: Male

Ages: 18 to 24 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• The study includes only male student of Pharmacy college at IAU.
• Students from 2nd to 5th year are eligible for the study.
• All the students who are willing to participate voluntarily and are in healthy state will be included in the study.

Exclusion criteria

• Students from other colleges as well as female students are not included in the study.
• Any student who have no consent to participate will be excluded from this study.
• Students with a history of stress, anxiety and depression, with any serious chronic medical conditions, any known allergy to aromatherapy or lavender oil.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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49 participants in 3 patient groups, including a placebo group

Group-I (Control group)

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

This group will be administered a placebo that is an odorless oil without any therapeutic effect)

Treatment:

Other: Placebo

Group-II (Treated group)

Experimental group

Description:

This group will be administered lavender oil.

Treatment:

Drug: Lavender Oil

Group-III (Untreated group)

No Intervention group

Description:

No intervention will be provided in this group.