Aromatherapy for Reducing Labor Pain

Efficacy of Aromatherapy for Reducing Pain During Labor

Pregnant women who eligible with inclusion criteria are random to two groups. Aromatherapy group will receive the aromatherapy during labor along with standard pain control.

Non-aromatherapy group will receive standard pain control during labor

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Pain
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Aromatherapy

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 94
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Singleton pregnancy
• Nulliparous
• 37 complete weeks of gestation
• Cephalic presentation
• No emergency obstetric complication
• In labor

Exclusion Criteria:

• Medical or obstetric complication preclude vaginal delivery
• Essential oil allergy
• Side effect of aromatherapy

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Aromatherapy; Receive essential oil diffuse by Aroma diffuser during labor. Pain score and dose of analgesics drug are recorded	Other: Aromatherapy; On the day of admission for labor. Pregnant women select type of essential oil. Aroma diffuser is used during labor. Pain score was record during latent, early active and late active phase.
No Intervention: Non-aromatherapy; This group receive pain control by standard of care without essential oil (aromatherapy)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
early active phase pain using Visual Analog Scale	Visual analog scale used to assess pain during cervical dilate 5-7 cm.	The day of labor

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
latent phase pain using Visual Analog Scale	Visual analog scale used to assess pain during cervical dilate 3-4 cm.	The day of labor
late active phase pain using Visual Analog Scale	Visual analog scale used to assess pain during cervical dilate 8-10 cm.	The day of labor
analgesic drug	doses of analgesic drug request by pregnant women	The day of labor

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Chiang Mai University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 1, 2015
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 1, 2016
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 8, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 27, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): March 31, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 18, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 16, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms; Pain; Therapeutics; Mind-Body Therapies; Complementary Therapies; Psychotherapy; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities; Sensory Art Therapies; Phytotherapy; Aromatherapy
• Other Study ID Numbers: 3487

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No