Date of Award

6-18-2015

Document Type

Restricted Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Nursing (MAN)

Department

Nursing

First Advisor

Deborah Schumacher

Abstract

Stress is an ongoing concern in nursing that can affect nurses both personally and professionally. Long-term stress can lead to burnout, which is a prolonged response to chronic, emotional, and interpersonal stressors. Stressed nurses may not be providing the best care to their patients. Literature addresses the many causes of burnout in nursing, but provides little guidance to reduce stress. Self-care is active participation in promoting one's health. An aromatherapy modalities project was developed to address self-care for nurses. Aromatherapy is the use of essential oils to relieve stress and relax the mind, body, and spirit. Watson's Theory of Human Caring provided guidance for the project through her caring theory and transpersonal caring concepts. A conceptual metaphor was created to represent the impact of stress and healing natures of aromatherapy. Evaluation of the project will include a follow-up survey and interview to gather information from the nurses' perspective. Leadership implications for nursing practice includes enhancing nursing care to patients and empowering nurses to become transpersonal healers by focusing on forming caring relationships with their patients.

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