Comparative Study: The Effectiveness of Acupuncture, Acupressure, and Aromatherapy in Overcoming Nausea Vomiting in First Trimester Pregnant Women

Abstract

Some pregnant women cannot cope with ongoing nausea and vomiting. Untreated nausea and vomiting will increase the frequency of nausea, weight loss, emotional tension, psychological stress, metabolic disorders, malnutrition and dehydration which causes hemoconcentration which inhibits blood circulation to the tissues. The therapy for nausea and vomiting being practiced is pharmacological therapy, but not all pregnant women can consume drugs. There are various complementary therapies being recommended to treat nausea and vomiting based on several studies, including acupuncture and acupressure at point P6, and giving lemon aromatherapy. This study aims to compare the effectiveness of acupuncture and acupressure at point P6 and lemon aromatherapy in overcoming nausea and vomiting in pregnant women in the first trimester. The research method was quasi-experimental (pretest-posttest). The number of samples was 90 first trimester pregnant women who experienced nausea and vomiting, which were divided into three groups. The questionnaire used was pregnancy-unique quantification of emesis/nausea (PUQE). The results of the study in the acupuncture group showed the median pretest was 4 according to 2 in the posttest, in the lemon aromatherapy group the median in the pretest was 13 to 10 in the posttest, while the acupressure group had a median value of 7.5 pretest to 7 in the posttest. There are differences in the effectiveness of nausea and vomiting in first trimester pregnant women using the acupuncture, acupressure and lemon aromatherapy methods. The conclusion of this study is that acupuncture is more effective in treating nausea and vomiting in first trimester pregnant women than acupressure and lemon aromatherapy.