Evaluation of Aromatherapy on Academic Stress
Condition: Stress; Academic Underachievement Disorder
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      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.
    

Detailed 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.
    

Intervention name(s): Lavender Oil; Placebo
Intervention type(s): Drug; Other
Intervention description(s): The oil used in this study will be lavender oil with a final concentration of 3% using almond oil (90%) as diluent. The oil after dilution and final preparation will be converted to proper clean vial in a fix amount (10 ml) and given to the students.; an odorless oil without any therapeutic effect
Other intervention name(s): An odorless oil without any therapeutic effect
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: The students will be divided into three groups randomly as Group-I (Control group: treated with a placebo that is an odorless oil without any therapeutic effect), Group-II (Treated group: administered with lavender oil) and Group-III (Untreated group)
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Supportive Care
Keywords: stress; pharmacy students; Saudi Arabia