Centre for Policy on Ageing



Aromatherapy and behaviour disturbances in dementia — a randomised controlled trial
Author(s)	Jonathan Smallwood, Rose Brown, Fiona Coulter
Journal title	International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 16, no 10, October 2001
Pages	pp 1010-1013
Keywords	Alternative medicine ; Behaviour disorders ; Dementia ; Clinical surveys ; Scotland.
Annotation	A randomised controlled trial of the relaxing effects of aromatherapy massage on disordered behaviour in dementia was conducted. 21 patients from a Scottish district general hospital ward were randomly assigned to to one of three conditions: aromatherapy and massage (AM), conversation and aromatherapy (CA), and massage only (M). Of all three conditions, AM showed the greatest reduction in the frequency of excessive motor behaviour. This reached statistical significance between 3pm and 4pm. Post hoc analysis suggests that at this time of day, the AM consistently reduced motor behaviour when compared with CA. This provides preliminary evidence of a measurable sedative effect of aromatherapy massage on dementia within a robust scientific paradigm. Further research is recommended with a larger sample. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-011115210 A
Classmark	LK3: EP: EA: 3G: 9A
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.