背景：護理人員有較高睡眠障礙，進而影響健康。芳香療法是一種簡單方便的輔助醫療，可改善睡眠品質，過去並無研究使用芳香療法改善護理人員的睡眠品質。目的：本研究旨在探討芳香療法對護理人員睡眠品質之成效。方法：研究設計採實驗性研究設計，研究對象取自中部某醫院護理人員，共計69位。分成實驗組及對照組。實驗組每天使用精油塗抹2次，為期3週，對照組則不做任何介入措施。採用結構式問卷收集資料，資料包括基本資料、健康狀況及匹茲堡睡眠品質量表(Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; PSQI)。結果：基本資料、健康狀況及PSQI在介入措施前，兩組並無統計差異。精油塗抹21天後，實驗組與對照組的健康狀況後測並無統計差異(p＞.05)。精油塗抹PSQI分數僅實驗組前後測達統計差異（前測：Mean=9.28, SD=3.62 vs 後測：Mean=3.89, SD=2.16），亦即實驗組在精油塗抹後，睡眠品質有改善(t=9.11, p＜.001)。精油塗抹後，實驗組後測PSQI分數(Mean=3.89, SD=2.16)顯著低於對照組後測分數(Mean=9.83, SD=3.46。因此，本研究證實精油塗抹有效改善護理人員睡眠品質)(t=-8.31,p＜.001)。結論／實務應用：精油塗抹可改善護理人員的睡眠品質，研究結果可提供改善護理人員的睡眠品質的參考。

Background: Nurses have a higher rate of sleep disturbance than members of the general population. These sleep disturbances, in turn, influence their health. Aromatherapy is one method used to improve sleep quality and is also a simple use of alternative and complementary medicine. In the literature, however, no previous studies have investigated the use of aromatherapy to improve sleep quality for nurses. Purposes: The purpose of this study, then, was to explore the effectiveness of aromatherapy in improving nurses' sleep quality. Methods: A randomized, controlled experimental design was used. A total of 69 participants were recruited from a hospital in central Taiwan. The participants were divided into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group received essential oil to use twice a day for 21 days. The control group did not receive any intervention. Structured questionnaires were used for data collection. The data derived from the questionnaire included basic data, health status, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Results: The data derived from the questionnaire included basic data, health status, and PSQI. Before the intervention, there were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of basic data, health status, and PSQI. After 21 days of intervention, health status scores were still not significantly different for the two groups (p＞.05), but the average PSQI scores of the two groups were significantly different (pre-test: Mean=9.28, SD=3.62 vs post-test: Mean=3.89, SD=2.16). Therefore, the sleep quality was improved by essential oil using for the experimental group (t=9.11, p＜.001). Specifically, the average PSQI score of the experimental group (Mean=3.89, SD=2.16) was significantly lower than that of the control group (Mean=9.83, SD=3.46). Thus, result of this study proved that essential oil using had effectively improved the sleep quality for nurses (t=-8.31, p＜.001). Conclusions/ Implications for Practice: We conclude that using essential oil could improve sleep quality for nurses. The findings of this study could further serve as a reference to improve sleep quality among nurses.