The Impact of Aromatherapy in Psychiatry – An Investigation on Natural Neroli Oil as Depressant Towards Senior Citizen

Abstract

An investigation has been made on evaluating the effectiveness of aromatherapy on depression among senior citizens residing in selected old age homes. Pre experimental one group pre-test and post-test designs were used for this study. The data collection was carried out over a period of 30 days. About 40 senior citizen subjects were selected through the convenience sampling technique. In the pre-test, the Geriatric depression scale was used for assessing the level of depression among senior citizens. Aromatherapy was given by means of applying 5 drops of Neroli oil with 10ml of coconut oil to the forehead of all the subjects once a day for 15 days. After completion of the intervention, the post-test has been conducted among subjects. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the findings of the study. It has been observed that a significant difference (P<0.01) in the mean score level of depression among senior citizens exists. The mean score was pretest 19.7 [± 4.22] and post test15.95 [± 4.74]. There was a significant association (P<0.05) was found between the depression score and selected demographic variables like gender, education, previous occupation, chronic health problems, marital status, and support system. Henceforth, it has been claimed that aromatherapy helps to reduce the level of depression among senior citizens