مقایسه ی تأثیر اروماتراپی با اسطوخودوس و تکنیک تنفسی در کاهش درد زایمان

Abstract Background: Half of the pregnant women suffer from the excruciating degrees of labor pain. Nowadays, however, the use of painkillers for decreasing labor pain due to their adverse effects on the mother and child is less common and attention has been shifted towards non-medical methods and complementary medicine such as message therapy, acupuncture, hydrotherapy, and herbal medicine. One of the branches of complementary medicine is hydrotherapy with herbal essences. Breathing techniques, on the other hand, have been used for decreasing pain for many years but they have not received much consideration in Iran. Hence, the present study was conducted to evaluate and compare the effects of aromatherapy with lavender and breathing techniques on the reduction of labor pain Materials and Methods: This randomized trial was done to consider the effect of lavender essence through aromatherapy on labor pain.. In the breathing group, the conducted cool lavender vapor (1.5%) was used during the active phase while breathing technique was used in the other group. There were 60 subjects in each group that were sampled through convenience sampling in the OR. However, the subjects were randomly allocated to each group. After obtaining written consent from all subjects, pain score were measured once before the intervention and three times after intervention in three different dilations (4-6, 6-8, and 8-10 cm) through VAS (visual analogue scale). The results were analyzed through t-test and Chi 2. Results: The results indicated that the differences between pain scores before and after intervention in the lavender (81%±2.48) and breathing technique group (1.88±0.27) were significant (P=0.01). Conclusion: This study showed that aromatherapy can be used as a good alternative for the other varieties of complementary medicine. Such substances through their mechanisms can decrease patients’ anxiety and awareness of the pain. Moreover, they can be used in different ways including massage and absorption through skin, breathing, and aromatherapy bathing so that the mother is not forced to choose only one method.