摘要根據我國衛生福利部的資料，台灣人口老化速度持續攀升，推估至2018年臺灣將進入「高齡社會」(ageing society ≧14%)，隨著人口老化，失智人口明顯增加。失智症的影響，?僅是因人口老化的緣故，也因為失智症是導致功能喪失最嚴重的慢性疾病之一。其症狀包括了中樞神經退化，造成認知和記憶功能退化、及心理與行為異常等症狀，甚至造成家人心理與經濟壓力來源。對失智者的醫療保健與照顧服務明顯高於非失智症患者。因此本研究擬評估芳香療法對失智長者心理與行為障礙的影響。研究中藉由對失智長者導入芳香嗅吸及按摩進行為期六個月的試驗，探討芳香療法對失智者心理與行為的影響，並在第二、四及六個月時進行家屬及照服員滿意度評估問卷調查，並根據收集到的家屬及照服員滿意度調查結果進行交叉對照分析。研究結果顯示，參與試驗患有輕度至重度失智情況且伴隨情緒障礙症狀之長者在經過在六個月的實驗後，芳香嗅吸對長者心理與行為的影響是較顯著，尤其在第二次評估(四個月)時，家屬問卷電訪之結果顯示在睡眠狀況方面有明顯的改善；而在照服員問卷之結果顯示在情緒穩定、人際互動、焦慮、憂鬱煩躁、臉部表情、突發情緒、口語表達、睡眠、生活自理、食慾及情緒控制等方面之改善皆可達到顯著差異(p值<0.05)。關鍵字 : 芳香療法、老年失智 AbstractAccording to the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan, the population of aging people is continuously increased and it is estimated that Taiwn will become "aging society" in the year of 2018. The population of Dementia is increased significantly as the population of elderly increased. The impact of dementia to the society is that dementia is one of the most serious chronic diseases that lead to the degradation of central nervous system, cognitive and memory function loss or abnormal behavior. These consequences are the main source of psychological or economical pressure to their family. Dementia patients also need more care than other patients.Aromatherapy has a long history in soothing anxiety and restlessness and improving the quality of sleep. Therefore, it is intended to evaluate the effects of aromatherapy to behavioral and psychological symptoms in dementia (BPSD) in this study. The test subjects are screened using the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR) by physicians and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and Geriatric Depression Scale-30 items (GDS). Through randomized and diverse trials to evaluate the effect of aromatherapy in the behavioral and psychological symptoms in dementia patients.The results show that aroma sniffing combined with body massage can effectively and continuously improve the emotional and behavioral status, including the increasing of facial expressions, communication skills, emotional control and the reducing of anxiety, emotional conflict, of the elder with dementia and thus suggest can improve the life quality of the elder with dementia and their carers.
