Implementing aromatherapy in nursing and midwifery practice

This paper reports the results of a small qualitative study of nurses and midwives who had undertaken a course in aromatherapy, one of the most popular complementary therapies in the UK. In particular, it examines barriers to putting their knowledge into practice. Participants had completed the aromatherapy course between 9 months and 2 years previously, and worked in a variety of settings. All were approached via their employing NHS trust. The interviews which took place in the clinical area were tape recorded and generally lasted for about 40 minutes. Data were analysed using the procedure outlined by Colaizzi (1978) Significant statements were clustered into themes, guided by whether they had a 'look alike/feel alike' quality, and were subsequently validated with the informants. The main themes discussed in this paper are the personal and professional benefits that respondents reported from undertaking the course, organizational issues and the frustrations they experienced because of delays in implementing changes in practice.