The Effect of Aromatherapy on Sleep Quality of Elderly People Residing in a Nursing Home

Background:

Sleep is important for health and quality of life in the elderly, and sleep disturbances are reported to be associated with many of the adverse medical conditions.

Purpose:

This research was carried out to evaluate the effect of inhalation of lavender oil on sleep quality of nursing home residents.

Methods:

A questionnaire was used to evaluate sociodemographic characteristics and sleeping properties of the 30 volunteers, enrolled. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was applied as a pre- and posttest to measure sleep quality of individuals who inhaled lavender oil drops on the pillows every evening for a week before sleeping.

Results:

Before and after aromatherapy, the mean Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score of the nursing home residents was = 6.0 ± 5.1 and = 2.6 ± 3.4, respectively, whereas statistically significant difference was not observed for independent variables. Cronbach α reliability coefficient of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scale was found to be 0.816.

Conclusions/Implications for Practice:

The results indicated an improvement of sleep quality of nursing home residents after the application of aromatherapy with lavender oil.