Vitamin and mineral supplements: a survey of knowledge, attitudes and behaviors among Southern Utah University students, faculty and staff

Methods An anonymous pencil-paper survey was administered on the campus of Southern Utah University (SUU). The survey was administered to 10% of SUU students (n = 604) during general education class time and was mailed through campus mail to 33.6% of full-time staff (n = 152) and full-time faculty members (n = 81) who were selected using a table of random numbers. The survey included questions regarding knowledge about, attitudes toward, and behaviors related to the use of vitamin and/or mineral supplements. Impact of gender, body mass index (BMI), level of education, age, and physical activity were examined since previous research has shown them to be related to vitamin and mineral supplement use. Approval from the SUU Institutional Review Board was obtained prior to administration of the survey. SPSS 13.0 for Windows was used for data analysis. Pearson chi square and frequencies were computed.