Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2014,Article ID 430195,12 pages http:/dk.doi.org/10.1155/2014/430195 Hindawi Research Article Aromatherapy:Does It Help to Relieve Pain,Depression, Anxiety,and Stress in Community-Dwelling Older Persons? Shuk Kwan Tang'and M.Y.Mimi Tse2 Department of OrthopaedicsTraumatology,United Christian Hospital,Kowloon,Hong Kong 2School of Nursing,The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,Kowloon,Hong Kong Correspondence should be addressed to M.Y.Mimi Tse;mimi.tse@polyu.edu.hk Received 11 February 2014;Accepted 10 May 2014;Published 13 July 2014 Academic Editor:Gianluca Coppola Copyright2014 S.K.Tang and M.Y.M.Tse.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,which permits unrestricted use,distribution,and reproduction in any medium,provided the original work is properly cited. To examine the effectiveness of an aromatherapy programme for older persons with chronic pain.The community-dwelling elderly people who participated in this study underwent a four-week aromatherapy programme or were assigned to the control group, which did not receive any interventions.Their levels of pain,depression,anxiety,and stress were collected at the baseline and at the postintervention assessment after the conclusion of the four-week programme.Eighty-two participants took part in the study. Forty-four participants(37 females,7 males)were in the intervention group and 38 participants(30 females,8 males)were in the control group.The pain scores were 4.75(SD 2.32)on a 10-point scale for the intervention group and 5.24(SD 2.14)for the control group before the programme.There was a slight reduction in the pain score of the intervention group.No significant differences were found in the same-group and between-group comparisons for the baseline and postintervention assessments.The depression, anxiety,and stress scores for the intervention group before the programme were 11.18(SD 6.18),9.64(SD 7.05),and 12.91(SD 7.70), respectively.A significant reduction in negative emotions was found in the intervention group(P<0.05).The aromatherapy programme can be an effective tool to reduce pain,depression,anxiety,and stress levels among community-dwelling older adults 1.Introduction Saunders'widely accepted total pain concept [9].This concept helps to guide health professionals to view pain using a Pain is a global and common problem among older persons multidimensional and holistic approach.Pain can cause worldwide.In Hong Kong,the older population is increasing problems to an individual in a single physical,psychological, in proportion to the population as a whole,from 13%in 2011 social,and spiritual aspect,or in two or more interrelated to 30%in 2041 [1].The annual growth rate of older persons aspects.Physical pain leads to psychological distress and from 1991 to 1996 was 5.1%[2].It is anticipated that the burden social interruption,affecting relationships with family,rela- on health services and social welfare will be heavier as a result tives,and friends.It also induces a fear that the condition of of the ageing population in Hong Kong. pain will further deteriorate.Depression,anxiety,stress,and Pain brings many problems to older people,including functional status have been found in different studies to be physical and psychological dysfunctions.The prevalence of associated with chronic pain [10-16].Studies have reported pain in community-dwelling older persons is high,ranging that when older persons have persistent pain,the prevalence from 25%to 50%[3].Older persons have been found to suffer of depression is high and anxiety develops in relation to the from different levels of pain [4-6].Most suffer from pain repetition of pain-inducing activities.Stress was found to originating from the musculoskeletal system [4,5,7,8].The mediate the pain disability of patients with lower back pain pain score rated on a 10-point scale by the older persons was [17].With the presence of pain,the mobility level of older 4.6 to 7.5 and described as moderate to severe [4,5,7]. persons declines,particularly as pain levels increase [ll]. Pain is the total suffering of a person in the physical, Pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions psychological,social,and spiritual aspects,according to have been effective in managing pain in older persons.OlderResearch Article Aromatherapy: Does It Help to Relieve Pain, Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in Community-Dwelling Older Persons? Shuk Kwan Tang1 and M. Y. Mimi Tse2 1 Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology, United Christian Hospital, Kowloon, Hong Kong 2 School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong Correspondence should be addressed to M. Y. Mimi Tse; mimi.tse@polyu.edu.hk Received 11 February 2014; Accepted 10 May 2014; Published 13 July 2014 Academic Editor: Gianluca Coppola Copyright © 2014 S. K. Tang and M. Y. M. Tse. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To examine the effectiveness of an aromatherapy programme for older persons with chronic pain. The community-dwelling elderly people who participated in this study underwent a four-week aromatherapy programme or were assigned to the control group, which did not receive any interventions. Their levels of pain, depression, anxiety, and stress were collected at the baseline and at the postintervention assessment after the conclusion of the four-week programme. Eighty-two participants took part in the study. Forty-four participants (37 females, 7 males) were in the intervention group and 38 participants (30 females, 8 males) were in the control group. The pain scores were 4.75 (SD 2.32) on a 10-point scale for the intervention group and 5.24 (SD 2.14) for the control group before the programme. There was a slight reduction in the pain score of the intervention group. No significant differences were found in the same-group and between-group comparisons for the baseline and postintervention assessments. The depression, anxiety, and stress scores for the intervention group before the programme were 11.18 (SD 6.18), 9.64 (SD 7.05), and 12.91 (SD 7.70), respectively. A significant reduction in negative emotions was found in the intervention group (𝑃 < 0.05). The aromatherapy programme can be an effective tool to reduce pain, depression, anxiety, and stress levels among community-dwelling older adults. 1. Introduction Pain is a global and common problem among older persons worldwide. In Hong Kong, the older population is increasing in proportion to the population as a whole, from 13% in 2011 to 30% in 2041 [1]. The annual growth rate of older persons from 1991 to 1996 was 5.1% [2]. It is anticipated that the burden on health services and social welfare will be heavier as a result of the ageing population in Hong Kong. Pain brings many problems to older people, including physical and psychological dysfunctions. The prevalence of pain in community-dwelling older persons is high, ranging from 25% to 50% [3]. Older persons have been found to suffer from different levels of pain [4–6]. Most suffer from pain originating from the musculoskeletal system [4, 5, 7, 8]. The pain score rated on a 10-point scale by the older persons was 4.6 to 7.5 and described as moderate to severe [4, 5, 7]. Pain is the total suffering of a person in the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects, according to Saunders’ widely accepted total pain concept [9].This concept helps to guide health professionals to view pain using a multidimensional and holistic approach. Pain can cause problems to an individual in a single physical, psychological, social, and spiritual aspect, or in two or more interrelated aspects. Physical pain leads to psychological distress and social interruption, affecting relationships with family, rela￾tives, and friends. It also induces a fear that the condition of pain will further deteriorate. Depression, anxiety, stress, and functional status have been found in different studies to be associated with chronic pain [10–16]. Studies have reported that when older persons have persistent pain, the prevalence of depression is high and anxiety develops in relation to the repetition of pain-inducing activities. Stress was found to mediate the pain disability of patients with lower back pain [17]. With the presence of pain, the mobility level of older persons declines, particularly as pain levels increase [11]. Pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions have been effective in managing pain in older persons. Older Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2014, Article ID 430195, 12 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/430195