Texas State Research Synopsis

September 2007
Evaluation of Aromatherapy in Institutional Elder Care Settings
Texas Long Term Care Institute, prepared by Sandy Ransom, RN, MSHP, Carmen Ann Adams, MSHP
College of Health Professions, Texas State University-San Marcos, San Marcos, Texas

Excerpts from the study are offered below:

Although eleven facilities initially elected to participate in the study, four facilities remained throughout the entire full study. Three different oil blends were tested among these four homes. One blend, Restore Peace, was tested in two of the homes. Of the remaining two facilities, one tested Helps Insomnia and Pain and one tested Promote Alertness

Weeks 1- 4 provide a baseline; no essential oils were used. The essential oil blends were used during weeks 5 – 17. Again, no oils were used during weeks 18 – 21.

Restore Peace
Restore Peace, a blend of frankincense and grapefruit oils, was tested in two homes.

Facility One
Examination of data based on monthly averages reveals that of thirteen people completing the study, improvements occurred in some aspect of his or her life for each participant.

Behavior evaluated included yelling, cursing, kicking, attempts to leave, repetitive motion, wandering/sun downing and crying.

Over the course of analyses of data collected at Facility One, it became apparent that a definitive pattern was occurring among most of the participants. During the fourth month of the study, a month during which oils were administered, behavioral incidents spiked. In view of the decline in overall cumulative events, this pattern was not only noticeable but unanticipated. Upon questioning the staff of Facility One, it was discovered that the bottle of oil that was used during month 4 was not the blend Restore Peace. It was, in fact, a bottle of pure carrier oil – the oil that was to be used as a control. The bottle contained no essential oils.

Total Events – Facility One

Baseline month no oils            1718
Month 1                                         604
Month 2                                         481
Month 3                                         918 (increase indicates carrier oil rather than essential oil)
Baseline month no oils             1132

Perhaps the most powerful information to come from Facility One is the story of an elder we will call Sally. Sally, described by the staff as a sweetheart,“hollered” non-stop. The only time she was not yelling (loudly), was when she was sleeping. Within one week after Restore Peace was introduced, her screaming decreased by 50%. By the end of the second week, it had stopped completely. Even after the completion of the study, she shrieks only occasionally. She no longer takes Respiridol, an antipsychotic medication, she was able to move off the “dementia unit” into another part of the facility.

Promote Alertness
Promote Alertness, a blend of orange and rosemary essential oils was tested in one small rural home. There were no significant differences pertaining to any of this data.
However, anecdotal information regarding two of the five participants (40%) offers some insight into the perceived success of using the oils.
Mrs. B always remained in bed before the aromatherapy program started.
She refused to leave her room and participated in no activities. She offered many complaints throughout the day about the place she is living and about her life in general. After being introduced to the Promote Alertness oil, a staff member gave the following description of Mrs. B: “She is now a completely different person. She is out of her room a lot and enjoys almost every activity that is offered. She no longer complains very much. She is doing very well.”

As shared by staff, “Mr. S. was always very tired and always sleeping. He had no energy to do anything. Now he has lots of energy and goes out with his family. His wife takes him out for three days, and she says, “He does real good when he is at home. He walks now; before he didn’t. He is more alert now. So he is doing real good.”

These words were written by Mr. S.’s wife: “I thank God for person or persons like you for going all the way out to make someone like my husband and others to do better. And I can tell in my husband that he is doing better, a lot better. At first he was sleeping a lot, angry, he didn’t want to do anything. He’d want me to do everything for him when I took him home for a visit. But now he’s more alert, we made plans to renew our wedding vows.  A week before, and I asked him what are we going to do Saturday, he’d say ‘getting married’, which other times he’d forget right away. I asked him do you want me to push you in the wheelchair at church, he told me ‘no I’ll walk’, and he did. He used to play the accordion and the guitar, but after all that he’s been through; he had lost the ability and interest to play. Now he’s trying to play again. Thank you very much.”

 Helps Relieve Insomnia and Pain
A blend of lavender and bergamot. Results were inconclusive.

Discussion and Recommendations
Results of this study warrant further investigation into the efficacy of using aromatherapy in a long term care setting. The profound benefit described for a number of the participants, particularly those living at “Facility One” adds support to previous studies.

For the full study contact the Texas Long Term Care Institute at Texas State University-San Marcos.