SynthesisBMC family practice2013
General practitioners' experiences and perceptions of benzodiazepine prescribing: systematic review and meta-synthesis.
Synthesis in BMC family practice, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 134 citations in OpenAlex.
- Barriers and facilitators to clinical behaviour change by primary care practitioners: a theory-informed systematic review of reviews using the Theoretical Domains Framework and Behaviour Change Wheel.Systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Evidence for deprescription in primary care through an umbrella review.BMC family practice · 2020Pooled it
- A Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis of Patients' Experiences and Perceptions of Seeking and Using Benzodiazepines and Z-Drugs: Towards Safer Prescribing.The patient · 2017Pooled it
- Trial
- Effects of Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention on the Chronic use of Hypnotics in Treatment-Seeking Women with Insomnia: a Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Efficacy of two interventions on the discontinuation of benzodiazepines in long-term users: 36-month follow-up of a cluster randomised trial in primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2016Trial
- Patient experiences of benzodiazepine tapering: a qualitative study of treatment in addiction care.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- From molecular mechanisms to digital surveillance: the 2010-2025 evolution of benzodiazepine and Z-drug misuse research.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Review
- Pathways to chronic benzodiazepine use: a qualitative study of user and professional perspectives.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Psychotropic medication prescribing for patients with insomnia comorbid with depressive or anxiety disorders in primary healthcare facilities in Beijing.BJPsych open · 2026Article
- Role of gender, age and rurality in benzodiazepine consumption in Catalonia, 2018-2022: a retrospective longitudinal drug utilisation study.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Should We Just Prescribe? Ethical Considerations When Using Antidepressants and Benzodiazepines For Emotional Distress.Journal of bioethical inquiry · 2025Article
- Experiences of long-term benzodiazepine use and addiction amid changes in guidelines for the prescription of narcotic drugs: a qualitative study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Challenge of long-term benzodiazepine use in primary care: insights from a real-world cohort study in Catalonia.Family medicine and community health · 2025Article
- A qualitative study of benzodiazepine/z-drug and opioid co-use patterns and overdose risk.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Benzodiazepine use in Spain: risks and perspectives on the current situation and proposals for their rational use.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Evoked craving in high-dose benzodiazepine users.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- GPs' reflections on prescribing addictive hypnotics to older people: a qualitative study.BJGP open · 2024Article
- Professionals' treatment goals for long-term benzodiazepine and Z-drugs management: a qualitative study.BJGP open · 2024Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBenzodiazepines are often prescribed long-term inappropriately. We aimed to systematically review and meta-synthesise qualitative studies exploring clinicians' experiences and perceptions of benzodiazepine prescribing to build an explanatory model of processes underlying current prescribing practices.
methodsWe searched seven electronic databases for qualitative studies in Western primary care settings published in a European language between January 1990 and August 2011 analysing GP or practice nurse experiences of benzodiazepine prescribing. We assessed study quality using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme Checklist. We analysed findings using thematic synthesis.
resultsWe included eight studies from seven countries published between 1993 and 2010. Benzodiazepine prescribing decisions are complex, uncomfortable, and demanding, taken within the constraints of daily general practice. Different GPs varied in the extent to which they were willing to prescribe benzodiazepines, and individual GPs' approaches also varied. GPs were ambivalent in their attitude towards prescribing benzodiazepines and inconsistently applied management strategies for their use. This was due to the changing context of prescribing, differing perceptions of the role and responsibility of the GP, variation in GPs' attitudes to benzodiazepines, perceived lack of alternative treatment options, GPs' perception of patient expectations and the doctor-patient relationship. GPs faced different challenges in managing initiation, continuation and withdrawal of benzodiazepines.
conclusionWe have developed a model which could be used to inform future interventions to improve adherence to benzodiazepine prescribing guidance and improve prescribing through education and training of professionals on benzodiazepine use and withdrawal, greater provision of alternatives to drugs, reflective practice, and better communication with patients.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.