The effect of inhalation aromatherapy on patient anxiety in nuclear medicine

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate if chamomile intervention has an impact on the anxiety levels of patients undergoing a bone or thyroid scan in Nuclear Medicine. Methodology A quantitative, experimental, prospective and cross-sectional design was employed for this study. Furthermore, 50 participants which complied with this study’s inclusion and exclusion criteria, were enlisted. Using convenient sampling, the partakers were equally distributed between the experimental and control group. In both groups, routine protocol was followed when scanning the patients, apart from those in the experimental group, who were introduced to chamomile smell. Moreover, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory questionnaire was used to measure the participants’ anxiety level before and after the scan. Results Participants in both the experimental and control group, experienced higher pre-scan state anxiety (37.84, 40.20) scores when compared to post-scan state anxiety scores (26.24, 37.12). Furthermore, the post-scan state anxiety score of the experimental group was significantly lower to the control group’s post-scan state anxiety score (P<0.001). In addition, when analysing the difference in anxiety levels between genders a statistical significance was noted. The results indicated that females were more vulnerable to anxiety reactions. Conclusion From this study’s findings, there was statistical significance which indicated that chamomile intervention was effective at lowering the patients’ anxiety level in Nuclear Medicine. However, the small sample size used in this study could have influenced the accuracy of the results. For future research, a larger sample size should be applied and data should be collected over a longer period of time. Nevertheless, this study suggests that chamomile intervention should be used in clinical practice since it is non-invasive and cheap.