Effect of Aromatherapy Massage on Abdominal Fat
and Body Image in Post-menopausal Women
Kim, Hee-Ja1)
1) Department of Nursing, Wonkwang Health Science College
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to verify the effect of
aromatherapy massage on abdominal fat and body image in
post-menopausal women. Method: A Non-equivalent control
group pre-post test Quasi-experimental design of random
assignment was applied. All subjects received one hour of
whole body massage as treatment by the same researcher
every week for 6 weeks. Participants also massaged their own
abdomen two times everyday for 5 days each week for 6
weeks. The two groups used different kinds of oil. The
experimental group used 3% grapefruit oil, cypress and three
other kinds of oil. The control group used grapeseed oil. Data
was collected before and after the treatment using Siemens
Somatom Sensation 4, a tape measure and MBSRQ. Data was
analyzed by ANCOVA using the SPSS/PC+Win 12 Version.
Result: Abdominal subcutaneous fat and waist circumference
in the experimental group significantly decreased after
aromathetapy massage compared to the control group. Body
image in the experimental group was significantly better after
aromathetapy massage than in the control group. Conclusion:
These results suggest that Aromatheapy massage could be
utilized as an effective intervention to reduce abdominal
subcutaneous fat, waist circumference, and to improve body
image in post-menopausal women.
Keyword : Post-menopause, Aromatherapy, Abdominal fat, Body image
