The popular use of therapeutic herbs in body care

Abstract

It is about a quantitative and exploratory study aimed at describing the clients’ knowledge and use of phytotherapy. The theoretical referral derived from anthropology. The adopted instruments were semi-structured forms applied to 300 users in a Health Polyclinic in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Results: 60,4% of the subjects use herbs and 63,4% have acquired the knowledge on medicinal plants with the family. The reasons for using herbal therapy were: sensation of improvement (32,2%) and the natural character of the herbs (33,5%). The adoption of herbs meets the subjectivity of the subject in his/her social and cultural context and remains as a complement or supplement to the official therapeutics.