Patient characteristics and clinician attitudes influencing the prescribing of benzodiazepines.

A questionnaire designed to evaluate the effect of patient characteristics and clinician attitudes on the prescribing of benzodiazepines was distributed to 86 members of the Departments of Psychiatry and Family Practice; the return rate was 87%. Of the respondents, 30% were consistently for, 20% were consistently against, and 50% were neither consistently for nor against the use of benzodiazepines. Prescribing decisions apparently depended on a complex interaction of patient's sex, employment, symptom severity and chronicity, and the respondent's attitude about the drugs. Plans are under way to revise the questionnaire, undertake in depth interviews, and compare questionnaire data with actual prescribing practices.