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Testing Twigg and Atkin's typology of caring: a study of primary care professionals’ perceptions of dementia care using a modified focus group method
Author(s) -
Manthorpe Jill,
Iliffe Steve,
Eden Alison
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
health and social care in the community
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.984
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1365-2524
pISSN - 0966-0410
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2524.2003.00453.x
Subject(s) - typology , dementia , multidisciplinary approach , focus group , perception , primary care , nursing , psychology , medicine , family medicine , sociology , social science , disease , pathology , neuroscience , anthropology
The present article explores professional attitudes to family members supporting an older person newly diagnosed with dementia. It draws on professional perspectives derived from a series of 24 multidisciplinary workshops held in the UK, analysed using a typology developed by Twigg in 1989. The primary care workers’ understanding of carers’ needs and circumstances fitted best with Twigg's models of carers as resources and co‐workers, but showed limited awareness of carers’ responses and attitudes to caring. It is argued that professional assumptions about family members’ roles when dementia is recently recognised among older people expand definitions of carers, but still confirm their instrumental role.