HASTALARIN BİTKİSEL ÜRÜN KULLANIMINA İLİŞKİN TUTUM VE UYGULAMALARININ DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

Abstract

Objective: Herbal products are commonly used in public as a part of complementary and alternative medicine. The aim of our study is to evaluate the patients' attitudes and practices towards herbal products' uses.Material and Method: This study was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted at two community pharmacies in Istanbul (Turkey) in December 2017-February 2018. Sociodemographic characteristics of the participants were recorded and a self-structured questionnaire was applied. Result and Discussion: A total of 200 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 34.6 years. Over sixty percent of the patients were using herbal products and approximately half of them believed that herbal products use was completely harmless (p<0.05). It was determined that the rate of using herbal products was statistically higher in female, adults, patients withlow educational level, patients with chronic diseases, and non-smokers (p<0.05). Patients with chronic illnesses commonly used herbal products and most of the patients believed that these products were harmless. It is important to provide reliable information for the community via pharmacists as health counselors.