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.
