Assessing the Efficacy of Essential Oil Aromatherapy on Children Undergoing Port Access: A Pilot Randomized Control Trial

Abstract

Background Port access can be a significant source of distress for pediatric oncology patients. This study sought to identify whether essential oil aromatherapy effectively reduces anxiety and pain associated with port access for pediatric oncology patients. Method This randomized control pilot study assigned participants (N = 19) by age (4–8 years, 9–13 years, and 14–18 years) to either a control group who received standard of care (n = 10) or an intervention group who received standard of care and aromatherapy (n = 9), for a total of 49 control port accesses and 50 aromatherapy intervention port accesses. Participants reported anxiety using the Visual Facial Anxiety Scale on entering the Infusion Lab before port access. They reported pain after port access using either the 0–10 Likert scale or the Wong-Baker Faces Scale. Results Younger participants (4–8 years) demonstrated a greater reduction in post-aromatherapy anxiety scores (p = .008). Overall, no significant difference was observed in the reported post-port access pain scores of the intervention and control groups (p = .7). Significant associations across all treatment groups (p < .001) and all age groups (p < .001) were found between post-intervention anxiety and post-access pain scores. The number of visits showed no significant associations with either post-aromatherapy pain (p = .6) or anxiety scores (p = .4). Discussion Essential oil aromatherapy may effectively reduce reported anxiety scores among younger patients, though this study was underpowered due to its small sample size, and further research is needed to determine the extent of its efficacy.