ArticleHealth expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy2022
'I just thought that it was such an impossible thing': A qualitative study of barriers and facilitators to discontinuing long-term use of benzodiazepine receptor agonists using the Theoretical Domains Framework.
Article in Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
17 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Z-drug abuse and dependence: clinical guideline of the Brazilian Academy of Neurology for diagnosis and management.Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria · 2025Guideline
- A systematic review of manipulations to pharmaceutical dosage forms used in psychotropic tapering plans.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Comparative effectiveness of interventions to facilitate deprescription of benzodiazepines and other sedative hypnotics: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2025Pooled it
- Patient experiences of benzodiazepine tapering: a qualitative study of treatment in addiction care.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Synaptic correlates of benzodiazepine tolerance.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Benzodiazepine receptor agonist deprescribing principles for long-term use and dependence: modified Delphi recommendations from a multi-disciplinary expert panel.Therapeutic advances in psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Barriers to discontinuing benzodiazepine receptor agonists in older adults: a survey of older adults across Europe.Age and ageing · 2025Observational
- Insights Into Pharmacist-Led Deprescribing of Benzodiazepines and Related Drugs: A Qualitative Study With Physicians and Pharmacists.Basic & clinical pharmacology & toxicology · 2025Article
- 'I Wish It Were More Often Told to People Before They Are Prescribed These Medications How Hard It Is to Get Off Them': A Qualitative Descriptive Analysis of Free-Text Responses to a Survey on Reducing and Stopping Psychiatric Medication.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Article
- Identification of Barriers and Needs in the Discontinuation of Benzodiazepine Receptor Agonists in Elderly Patients of a Rural Community-A Qualitative Study.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- 'I haven't discussed anything with anyone': lived experience of long-term users of benzodiazepine receptor agonists regarding their treatment for substance use disorder.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2024Article
- 'We need more support and doctors that understand the process of tapering …': A content analysis of free-text responses to a questionnaire on discontinuing long-term benzodiazepine receptor agonist use.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024Article
- "At the time I only wanted to relieve stress": Exploring motivation for behaviour change in long-term hypnotic users.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Evaluation of the effectiveness of a joint general practitioner-pharmacist intervention on the implementation of benzodiazepine deprescribing in older adults (BESTOPH-MG trial): protocol for a cluster-randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- A Qualitative Exploration of Perceived Medication Adherence Determinants Conducted Among Older Adults with HIV and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.Patient preference and adherence · 2023Article
- Supporting safe and gradual reduction of long-term benzodiazepine receptor agonist use: Development of the SAFEGUARDING-BZRAs toolkit using a codesign approach.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2022Article
- 'I just thought that it was such an impossible thing': A qualitative study of barriers and facilitators to discontinuing long-term use of benzodiazepine receptor agonists using the Theoretical Domains Framework.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionExisting interventions to reduce long-term benzodiazepine receptor agonist (BZRA) use lack theoretical underpinning and detailed descriptions. This creates difficulties in understanding how interventions work and how to replicate them in practice. The Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) can be used to identify behaviour change determinants to target during intervention development.
objectiveTo explore barriers and facilitators to discontinuing BZRA use from the perspective of both current and previous long-term BZRA users. DESIGN/SETTING AND
participantsSemistructured TDF-based interviews were conducted with community-based individuals with current or previous experience of long-term BZRA use. Data were recorded, transcribed and analysed using the framework method.
resultsTwenty-eight individuals were interviewed. Despite commonalities in perceived barriers/facilitators to discontinuing BZRA use within individual TDF domains, individual participants had different experiences of identified determinants of BZRA discontinuation. For example, both similarities and differences existed within and between each participant group in terms of knowledge of the appropriate duration of BZRA use ('Knowledge' domain) and experience of withdrawal symptoms ('Reinforcement' domain). Compared to previous users, current users typically anticipated more barriers to discontinuing BZRA use and fewer positive consequences of discontinuation.
conclusionThis study reports on barriers and facilitators to discontinuing BZRA use from the perspectives of current and previous long-term users. The findings highlight the challenging nature of BZRA discontinuation and a multitude of barriers that impact participants' behaviour regarding BZRA use. Future work will involve developing a theory-based intervention to support BZRA discontinuation in primary care. PATIENT CONTRIBUTION: The study included patients as participants.
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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.