# Saudi Healthcare Students’ General Practices Applied to Protect Against COVID-19 and Their Beliefs Regarding the Use of Herbal Supplements as a Protection Method

## TL;DR

This study examines how Saudi healthcare students protected themselves from COVID-19 and their use of herbal supplements during the pandemic.

## Contribution

The study provides new insights into the protective practices and beliefs of healthcare students in Saudi Arabia regarding herbal supplements during the pandemic.

## Key findings

- Most participants followed Saudi guidelines for preventing COVID-19 transmission.
- Only 17.1% of participants used herbal supplements, with ginger and vitamins C and D being the most common.
- Gender and specialty differences were significant in the use of herbal supplements.

## Abstract

Background: At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the absence of treatment increased the Saudi population's inquietude regarding the virus. Therefore, people were seeking alternative methods to protect themselves from disease's fast transmission, such as hand hygiene, social isolation, and the use of natural and dietary products.

Aim: The main objective of this study is to assess healthcare students’ general practices applied to protect against COVID-19 and their beliefs regarding the use of herbal supplements as a protection method.

Methodology: All undergraduate healthcare students were eligible to participate, except pre-professional students. The estimated sample size was 371, which was calculated using Raosoft® software (Raosoft Inc., Seattle, WA). A cross-sectional online survey was distributed among the targeted population. The data were entered in Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA) and transferred to be analyzed by JMP software (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC).

Results: A total of 441 healthcare students, who met the inclusion criteria, participated in this study. About 81.41% of the participants reported that they were completely committed to Saudi guidelines regarding preventive measures against COVID-19 transmission. Most of the participants were not using herbal supplements, while 17.1% of them used herbal products or dietary supplements during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants who used herbal and dietary products commonly consumed ginger and vitamins C and D. In addition, a chi-square showed significant differences in gender and specialties regarding the usage of herbal supplements as a protective method against COVID-19 (P<0.05).

Conclusion: The findings of our study exhibit the general practice of herbal products during the COVID-19 pandemic among Saudi healthcare students was low in comparison with their beliefs. In addition, the using of herbal supplements should be evidence-based to guarantee safe consumption.