2021, Volume 14, Issue 6, pp 776 – 781

The effect of aromatherapy with lavender essential oil on the working memory of women with multiple sclerosis

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Authors and Affiliations

* Corresponding Author: Ahmad Reza Sayadi, Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran. E-mail: sayadiahmad@yahoo.com

Abstract

Working memory, one of the cognitive components, may be impaired in patients with multiple sclerosis. Accordingly, this study aims to determine the effects of aromatherapy with lavender essential oil on the working memory of women with multiple sclerosis (MS). In this clinical trial, 60 women with multiple sclerosis were selected using the sampling method from patients referred to the MS Clinic of Rafsanjan. Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the participants were randomly divided into intervention and placebo groups. In addition, the working memory test developed by Daneman and Carpenter was used to evaluate the participants’ working memory before the intervention and the day after the last intervention. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics version 18.0. According to intragroup comparison results and based on the paired t-test, the mean score of the working memory before the intervention in the intervention group was 82.77±6.87, which increased to 87.64±5.57 after the intervention (P<0.001). The average working memory score of the placebo group was 80.30±11.09 and 82.09±11.31 before and after the intervention, respectively, which did not have a statistically significant difference (P=0.154). Based on findings from the independent t-test, the mean scores of working memory had a statistically significant difference between the intervention and placebo groups after the intervention (P=0.02). According to the results from this study, aromatherapy with lavender essential oil improved working memory in women with multiple sclerosis.

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About this article

PMC ID: 8811666
PubMed ID: 35126747
DOI: 10.25122/jml-2020-0115

Article Publishing Date (print): Nov-Dec 2021
Available Online: 

Journal information

ISSN Printing: 1844-122X
ISSN Online: 1844-3117
Journal Title: Journal of Medicine and Life

Copyright License: Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.


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