Description
Objective: To evaluate the scientific production related to the benefits of essential oils (OEs) in labor and delivery. Method: It is an integrative review of the literature of original and complete articles from national and international studies, available in full free of charge, from 2010 to 2020, in Portuguese, English and Spanish that addressed the use of oils essential in the parturition process, in the electronic databases: LILACS, SCIELO and PubMed, using the descriptors: volatile oils, aromatherapy, birth, childbirth, labor pain, obstetrics, complementary therapies, with Boolean operators AND / OR. Results: 17 articles were selected. From the data analysis, three thematic categories emerged: Aromatherapy in labor, Essential oils in labor, and Production of scientific evidence. Discussion: Researches related to the subject sought to evaluate mostly the effectiveness of OEs in decreasing the perception of pain and anxiety in the parturition process, especially the Lavender, Orange and Jasmine OEs. Final Considerations: The studies reinforced the benefits of using OES in the parturition process, enhancing its applicability in the obstetric routine as an integrative care practice. Aromatherapy is a practice that can help relieve pain and anxiety in labor and delivery and needs to be widely studied and validated.