Perception and use of herbals among students and their practitioners in a university setting.

PURPOSE: To determine the extent of herbal use among students at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and to examine the campus health services practitioners' attitudes toward herbals. DATA SOURCES: An exploratory study of a nonrandom sampling of 1,754 students and 40 practitioners. The student t test and chi-square comparisons were used to analyze the data.
CONCLUSIONS: Over half of the students surveyed were using herbals, primarily for relief of physical symptoms, prevention of illness, and improvement of general well-being. Many students lacked accurate or sufficient information about herbals and were not seeking medical guidance. Although the practitioners asked students about herbal use and sometimes even encouraged it, 75% noted the need for additional professional education about herbals. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Practitioners in the college health setting need to be cognizant of students' self-medication with herbals and need to have the knowledge to guide students appropriately.