Aromaterapi Minyak Esensial Lavender Menurunkan Risiko Postpartum Blues

Abstract

The post partum period is a natural event after childbirth and during this period there are physical and psychological changes in the form of fear and worry about achieving a new role as mother. In the post partum period, there are several minor psychological disorders that hinder the achievement of this role, including the postpartum blues. The psychological changes of each person are different so that the postpartum blues is often undiagnosed which as a result can progress to postpartum depression. The incidence of postpartum blues ranges from 40-85%. Efforts that can be made to overcome the postpartum blues include aromatherapy. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of lavender essential oil aromatherapy on postpartum blues. This type of study was quasi-experimental with a pretest and postest one group design. The study was conducted on 20 post-cesarean mothers aged 15-49 years, parity 1-5, term pregnancy, babies born with an Apgar score of 7-10, no history of asthma, allergies or dermatitis to flowers/plants, able to read and write well in Indonesian, and an EPDS score of 10-12 (between the third to the fifth day). Sampling with consecutive sampling. EPDS score measurements were performed three times (baseline, 7 th day, and 14 th day). Data analysis used the Shapiro Wilk, Friedman, and posthoc Wilcoxon tests with α = 0.05 and β = 80%. The mean age of the respondents was 27.