RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To relieve stress and pain during labor is most important issue in obstetrical care. The purposes of this study were to verify the effects of aromatherapy on labor process, labor pain, labor stress response and neonatal status of primipara. METHODS: This study was a randomized, repeated measures over time, pretest-posttest design. The subjects were forty eight primipara with single gestation, full term, uncomplicated pregnancies. As the treatment, the experimental group took an aromatherapy massage with aromatherapy oil (1.5% dilution essential oil of clary sage, geranium, jasmine, and rose) on the back at every two hours. The control group took general obstetric care. Baseline data including general and obstetric characteristics, plasma beta-endorphin, serum cortisol were obtained at the onset of labor. As resulting variables, length of labor, use of oxytocin, labor pain, use of analgesics, plasma beta-endorphin, serum cortisol, pulse rate, blood pressure, umbilical cord arterial blood pH, Apgar score were measured. Collecting Data were analyzed by t-test, x2 test, repeated measures of ANOVA with SPSS program. RESULTS: As a results, the length of decerelation phase of the experimental group was significantly shorter than the control group. No significant group effects were found, but significant time effects were found for labor pain, plasma beta-endorphin, serum cortisol, pulse rate and blood pressure. There were no significant differences in other variables between two groups. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that aromatherapy during labor could be effective in decreasing labor length. But, any other effects of aromatherapy did not be verified.