Use of essential oils and aromatherapy during labor. UFRGS.

Introduction: aromatherapy consists in the use of essential oils in the prevention or treatment of various human pathologies. During labor, it can be applied to relief pain and anxiety. The objective of this research was to identify scientific literature about the use of aromatherapy and essential oils in the management of labor; as well as to elaborate a hospital protocol, from the findings in the publications, about aromatherapy and the application of essential oils during labor. Materials and methods: this is an integrative literature review developed in the LILACS, Cochrane Library and Pubmed databases. Original scientific articles published in the 2000-2019 period were included. The material collected was analyzed based on Laurence Bardin's content thematic analysis. Results: thirteen articles comprised the corpus of this research. Four analysis categories emerged from them, namely: 1- Aromatherapy as a strategy for pain relief in the dilation phase of labor; 2- Aromatherapy as a strategy to reduce anxiety during labor; 3- Methods to apply the essential oils during labor; and 4- Use of essential oils for the management of unpleasant symptoms and progression of labor. Discussion: a hospital protocol about the use of aromatherapy during labor was elaborated from the results. Conclusion: aromatherapy is an adequate tool for humanized care in the management of pain and anxiety during labor, with no documented adverse effects in the literature surveyed. Keywords: Essential Oils; Aromatherapy; Labor, Obstetric.