Trial reportScientific reports2025
The effect of aromatherapy and music therapy on blood pressure and heart rate of nursing students before taking the exam.
Trial report in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The effectiveness of music interventions on psychological, physiological and academic outcomes in health sciences students: a meta-analysis.BMC medical education · 2026Pooled it
- The effectiveness of aromatherapy interventions on psychological, physiological and academic outcomes in nursing and health sciences students: a meta-analysis.BMC medical education · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of inhalingFrontiers in psychology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Anxiety associated with taking exams jeopardizes students' mental and physical health. Complementary alternative methods, such as aromatherapy and music therapy, have shown promise in reducing negative emotions among students. However, few studies have examined the effects of these interventions. This study aimed to investigate the effects of aromatherapy and music therapy on nursing students' blood pressure (BP) and heart rate before taking an exam. This quasi-experimental, double-blinded study was conducted in 2023 at the Nursing College of Abadan University of Medical Sciences in Abadan, Iran. The research included a total of 169 nursing students, who were randomly assigned to three groups: an aromatherapy group (n = 60), a music therapy group (n = 56), and a control group (n = 53). Aromatherapy was administered by inhaling lavender and damask rose essences, while music therapy involved listening to Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata." The control group received a placebo intervention consisting of cotton soaked in 10 drops of water. Each intervention lasted twenty minutes and was conducted in separate rooms before an exam. Students' heart rates and BP (both systolic and diastolic) were recorded before and after the intervention. The study showed remarkable effects of aromatherapy and music therapy on blood pressure and pulse rate. While systolic blood pressure (SBP) was similar in all groups at the beginning of the study (p = 0.205), SBP decreased significantly after the intervention (p = 0.016), especially in the aromatherapy (p = 0.003) and music therapy (p < 0.001) groups. Both interventions also significantly reduced diastolic blood pressure and pulse rate (p < 0.001) compared to baseline. However, except for SBP (p = 0.021), ANCOVA tests did not reveal significant differences between the study groups for diastolic blood pressure and pulse rate (p > 0.05). The reduction in students' systolic BP before exams, observed with complementary therapies like music therapy and aromatherapy using lavender and damask rose extracts, suggests a decrease in stress-related physiological responses, However, the specific link to exam-related anxiety requires further clarification.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.