The Effect of Aromatherapy Inhalation on Reducing Chronic Pain for Children with Cancer: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Chronic pain is a physical symptom often experienced by pediatric patients with cancer. Long-lasting pain conditions can cause the deterioration of the quality of life of children. In order to enhance their quality of life, they should get any intervention to control the pain. Besides the pharmacologic pain management, nurses also should develop a non pharmacologic pain management strategy. One of the simplest and cheap strategy which is currently being developed was aromatherapy. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of aromatherapy for controlling chronic pain experienced by pediatric patients with cancer. The method used is a quasi-experiment with a consecutive sampling technique. There were 20 respondents involved, which were divided randomly into 2 groups. This study showed that inhaled aromatherapy proved effective for reducing chronic pain (p = 0.001) compared with standard care. Aromatherapy also have other positive effects that make the patient feel more relaxed and improve the patient’s sleep quality. Thus, the use of inhaled aromatherapy interventions can be considered to use in controlling the chronic pain experienced by pediatric patients with cancer to optimize the nursing care. However, further research is still needed by involving a larger number of respondents.

Efficacy of Essential Oils in Relieving Cancer Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Triana and collaborators in 2022 [ 82 ] perform a quasi-experimental study with a consecutive sampling technique with the purpose of understanding the effectiveness of aromatherapy in school-age children and adolescents (7–17 years) with a diagnosis of cancer, experiencing chronic pain (for longer than 1 month) and receiving moderate analgesics/opioids. A sample of 20 patients are randomly allocated to two groups: Intervention (N = 10), consisting in aromatherapy with the most favored scent (most often aloe vera) and Control (N = 10) with standard care.…”

“…The meta-analysis, including six out of twelve studies included in synthesis (forest plot reported in Figure 3 ), demonstrates statistically significant efficacy of the use of essential oils in the reduction of the intensity of pain associated with cancer, assessed through unidimensional pain scales ( p = 0.002). In particular, the studies contribute almost equally to the results, apart from the study performed by Triana and collaborators [ 82 ], which has a lower weight because of the reduced sample size and because it presents wider standard deviation. Moreover, it is possible to highlight high heterogeneity among the studies eligible for the meta-analysis (I 2 = 96%).…”

“…The present systematic review and meta-analysis highlights the paucity of clinical trials in the field of aromatherapy and essential oil use to manage pain associated with cancer. All the studies eligible for inclusion in this analysis include patients aged over 18, apart from the trials conducted by Ndao and collaborators [ 79 ] and Triana and coworkers [ 82 ] focusing on a pediatric population. However, many cancer types allow longer survival than in the near past; thus, the possibility of age-related comorbidities needs to be taken into account.…”

“…However, many cancer types allow longer survival than in the near past; thus, the possibility of age-related comorbidities needs to be taken into account. In particular, apart from the study conducted by Triana and colleagues in which pain is inferred and rated by the nurse [ 82 ], the capability of self-reporting of pain and of answering to the assessment of pain intensity through the VAS/NRS/VRS is one of the most common inclusion criteria of the studies retrieved by this systematic search. This aspect is noteworthy since it points at the need for more appropriate pain assessment during cancer.…”

Efektivitas Pemberian Aromaterapi dalam Mengurangi Mual Muntah pada Anak: Telaah Sistematis

“…Selain itu penggunaan aromaterapi juga memiliki efek positif lainnya, seperti peningkatan kualitas tidur, perasaan rileks dan berkurangnya frekuensi penggunaan obat analgesik tambahan. (Triana et al, 2022).…”