Part II : Depression scores of respondents before experiment.
Table 3 Comparison of pretest depression mean scores for the experimental and the
control group (n = 60).
Group Pretest depression score
Mean SD
t P
Experimental group
Control group
28.03
26.23
4.75
3.95
1.59 0.12ns
ns = not significant (p>0.05)
The independent t-test was used to compare both groups’ pretest depression
mean scores. The result showed no significant difference (Table 3). Therefore, the
experimental and the control group in this study were similar in depression mean
scores before the experiment.
Part III : The effects of aroma oil massage on depression.
To answer the study’s hypotheses, Paired t-test and Independent t-test were
used to analyze the data. The results were shown in Table 4-6.
Hypothesis 1: After aroma oil massage in the first week, for the experimental
group, the posttest depression mean scores will be significantly lower than the pretest
depression mean scores (Immediate effect).
Table 4 Comparison of depression mean scores between before and after experiment
in the experimental group and control group at week 1 (n = 30).
Depression score
Before experiment
at week 1
After experiment
at week 1
Group
Mean SD Mean SD
Paired
t-test
P
Experimental group
Control group
28.03
26.23
4.75
3.95
8.57
26.27
5.98
4.06
15.43
-0.57
0.00*
0.57ns
*(p 0.05)