Effectiveness of Lavender Aromatherapy to Reduce Headache in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury
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Abstract
Introduction: Headache is one of prevalent symptom among Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) which can contribute to secondary headache namely Post Traumatic Headache (PTH). Patients with TBI may experience either acute or chronic headaches, which can interfere with everyday activities and even lower their quality of life. Consequently, simple and effective pain management is needed to overcome it
Objective: To determine the effectiveness of lavender aromatherapy to reduce headache intensity in mild TBI patients.
Method: A pre-experimental design with a one-group pretest-posttest design. The sample consists of 16 respondents who receive lavender aromatherapy for a duration of 30 minutes. Pain level was measured using the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) pain scale. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test at a significance level of α ≤ 0,05.
Results: The mean pain intensity prior to the implementation of lavender aromatherapy was 3.25, whereas the mean pain intensity following the implementation was 1.12. A significant difference in pain intensity was observed before and after the administration of lavender aromatherapy (p-value=0.000).
Conclusions: The use of lavender aromatherapy has been demonstrated to be an effective non-pharmacological therapy for headaches in patients with mild TBI.
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