The effectiveness of aromatherapy and massage on stress management in nurses: A systematic review

To assess the effectiveness of aromatherapy and massage on relieving stress in nurses.

Nurses face uncommon levels of stress in medical settings. Stress has a negative impact on nurses' well-being and the organisation where they work. Aromatherapy and massage are important strategies for stress reduction. However, the effectiveness of aromatherapy and massage on relieving stress in nurses currently lacks understanding.

Systematic review.

We performed a quantitative systematic review using Cochrane methods. We searched existing literature in the following databases: PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library, to examine any experimental design studies published from the earliest date available to August 2017 in English. Risk of bias per outcome was assessed.

A total of 10 articles met the inclusion criteria, including aromatherapy (n = 4), massage (n = 4) and aromatherapy massage (n = 2). Most studies reported that aromatherapy and massage exert a beneficial effect on the stress of nurses. One study showed that the aromatherapy massage with music interventions has no effect on the stress of nurses. However, the number of the studies is limited and has high or unclear risk of bias.

This review revealed that the evidence does not sufficiently prove that aromatherapy, massage and aromatherapy massage are effective for reducing job-related stress of nurses. We need to conduct high-quality studies to verify the effects of these interventions on nurses' stress levels in the future. Moreover, we need to integrate outcome measures of stress levels for developing more appropriate tools than the ones used as present.

Nurses' stress has a negative impact on their own and organisation where they work. All available opportunities should be taken to reduce nurses' stress. It will be beneficial for nurse shortage.