Abstract

Background: Operating room nurses are frequently exposed to high-risk physical and psychological factors leading to increased anxiety and job stress and reduced accuracy. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of aromatherapy with damask rose on anxiety, accuracy and job stress in operating room nurses. Method: This clinical trial study was conducted in 2021 on 60 operating room nurses in Qom, Iran. The subjects were selected by the convenience sampling method and randomly divided into two equal experimental and control groups using the random blocking method. In the experimental group, nurses were asked to inhale damask rose for 10 minutes. The control group was asked to inhale normal saline. Anxiety, accuracy and job stress were assessed before and after aromatherapy. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 22) and Chi-square test, Independent t-test, and paired ttest. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age of nurses was 32.21±6.17 years. After aromatherapy, the mean scores of anxiety and job stress significantly increased to 26.53 ± 4.00 (t=9.32, P<0.001) and 80.0 ±10.47 (t=7.06, P<0.001), respectively in experimental group. The mean score of accuracy significantly increased to 33.56 ± 3.69 in the experimental group after aromatherapy (t=8.21, P<0.001). The results showed statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of anxiety (t=-7.29, P<0.001), accuracy (t=-2.48, P=0.016) and job stress (t=4.14, P<0.001) after aromatherapy. Implications for Practice: It is recommended to use aromatherapy with damask rose to reduce anxiety and job stress and improve accuracy among operating room nurses. © 2022 Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.