The Effects of Aroma Foot Baths on Stress and Sleep in Terminal Cancer Patients / 한국호스피스완화의료학회지

ABSTRACT

Purpose@#This study aimed to investigate the effects of aroma foot baths on stress and sleep in terminally ill cancer patients. @*Methods@#We performed a non-randomized interventioncontrol study with 30 terminal cancer patients who were admitted to a palliative care unit.Participants responded to questionnaires on stress and sleep before and after a 5-day interval. The intervention group received a daily aroma foot bath for 5 days. We performed multivariate regression analysis to examine the changes in outcomes on stress and sleep for the intervention group compared to the control group. @*Results@#The differences in baseline characteristics between groups, excluding subjective economic status and general weakness, did not show statistical significance. In contrast to the control group, the intervention group showed a statistically significant change in physical stress and psychological stress levels, but significant changes were not observed in quality of sleep. Compared to the control group, the intervention group showed a significant reduction in physical stress (P=0.068) and psychological stress (P=0.021). @*Conclusion@#Aroma foot baths are effective for reducing stress in patients hospitalized with terminal cancer.