Lavender aromatherapy on anxiety and depression in patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome: a single-blind randomized clinical trial

Objective:In cardiovascular disease,a patient’s anxiety and depression can increase cardiac rehabilitation duration and recovery.Lavender aromatherapy as a non-pharmacological intervention effective in other contexts may be an efficient intervention to alleviating anxiety and depression in patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome(ACS).Methods:In this study,110 ACS patients were randomly assigned to two intervention and control groups.Inhalation of the lavender fragrance was prescribed for the intervention group and the drop of aromatic almond for the control group for 3 days.Results:The first-day anxiety and depression were significantly different in the two groups at 1 h and 9 h after the intervention.The’morning’s difference before the intervention was not significant,but it was substantial 1 h after the intervention.On the third morning of the intervention,this difference was confirmed.Conclusions:This study confirmed the effectiveness of lavender aromatherapy in reducing anxiety and depression in ACS patients.This’study’s results enable intensive care nurses to use aromatherapy with lavender oil as a non-pharmacological and cost-effective intervention to reduce their psychological tensions and increase patient satisfaction during hospitalization in the cardiac care units(CCU).

Psychometric properties of the Persian version of the European heart failure self-care behavior scale

Objective:To investigate the psychometric properties of the self-care behavior scale in heart failure(HF)patients.The development of self-care behaviors is one of the goals of non-pharmacological care management programs.Methods:After translating the European Heart Failure Self-care Behavior scale(EHFScBS),validity was assessed through explanatory factor analysis;additionally,reliability was assessed through Cronbach alpha and test-retest.The samples comprised of 120 HF patients admitted to hospitals in Tehran during 2017-2018.Results:The mean age of the samples was 67.3±14.04 years.Fifty-four patients(45%)were female.All items of the scale had an acceptable factor loading.Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.72.The intra-cluster correlation coefficient(ICC)was 0.69.Conclusions:Nurses and clinicians could benefit from the Persian version of HF self-care scale since it would enable them to rapidly assess patients’self-care behaviors and to evaluate the effectiveness of the HF management.

Relationship between clinical performance and professional self-concept in critical care nurses

Objective:To determine the relationship between clinical performance and professional self-concept in critical care nurses.Methods:This study was conducted on 308 critical care nurses.Data gathering instruments were nurses’clinical performance questionnaire(NCPQ)and nursing professional self-concept measure(NPSCM).Independent sample t-test,one-way analysis of variance(ANOVA),and Pearson correlation coefficient were used for data analyses.Results:The average age of the nurses was 33.74±7.01 years.The clinical performance score of female nurses was significantly higher than male nurses.In the domain of clinical performance,clinical judgment and clinical inquiry had the highest and lowest scores,respectively.In the nurses’professional self-concept,the highest and lowest scores were awarded to the subscales of self-confidence and staff relations,respectively.In addition,there was a significant positive correlation between self-concept and clinical performance of nurses.Conclusions:Increasing professional self-concept improves the clinical performance of critical care nurses.Professional self-concept enhancement measures are recommended to improve the clinical performance of nurses in critical care units.