Abstract
Purpose: This study was performed to investigate the effects of aromatherapy on headache, stress and immune response of students with tension-type headache. Method: This study employed a two-group pre-post test study design. Data was collected from 44 subjects. Twenty-two subjects were assigned to the experimental group and received aromatherapy massage every other day for 3 weeks, but the other 22 subjects were in the control group and did not receive any intervention. Experiment had been conducted from Apr. 9 through Aug. 25, 2001 and intensity of headache, stress response (serum cortisol, life stress) and immune response(T-cell and natural killer cell ratio) were measured in the course of aromatherapy for both experimental group and control group. Data were analyzed by using $X^2$-test, t-test, Paired t-test and repeated measures ANOVA. Result: Headache scores, serum cortisol levels and life stress scores were significantly decreased in the experimental group after treatment compared to the control group. Conclusion: These findings is suggested that the aromatherapy could be an effective nursing intervention in relaxing and relieving the pain caused by tension-type headache for students.