THE EFFECT OF LAVENDER ESSENCE ON THE POST-EPISIOTOMY PAIN INTENSITY OF PERINEUM

Background and Post-episiotomy pain affects maternal life quality and mental health as well as her care and relationship with the infant. Currently the use of complementary medicine has become common; for instance the use of lavender essence is specifically prevalent in medicine and midwifery but findings about this essence are few and contradictory. Therefore the present research was conducted to investigate the effect of lavender essence on post-episiotomy pain in primipara.Methods and Materials: This single-blind clinical trial involved 60 qualified primiparous women admitted for labor in Kamali Hospital in Karaj Iran. They were randomly allocated into two groups: cases (bathing in lavender essence) and controls (receiving the hospital routine). For five days after labor case mothers were given essential oil of lavender (twice a day each time 6 drops in 5 liters of water) and control mothers were given the hospital; routine (Betadine) for bathing in. The study data were collected through demographic data questionnaire analgesic checklist and visual analog scale of pain. The participants’ pain was recorded on the VAS scale 4 hours 12 hours ad 5 days after episiotomy. The obtained data were analyzed in SPSS 14 using independent t-test and chi-square. The two groups did not show any significant differences as for their demographic data and variables of the study. Mean pain intensity in the lavender and Betadine groups were 2.7±1.7 and 4.23±1.59 respectively which shifted to 2.43±1.94 and 4.60±1.79 respectively five days after surgery; the difference came out to be significant (p<0/001)......