The emotional experience of family caregivers

Caring for the person with advanced chronic disease at home is demanding and complex, confronting the family, namely the caregiver, with the need to redefine and assume new roles, priorities and responsibilities.Family relationships become more vulnerable and susceptible to changes, triggering a variety of feelings and emotions that may trigger more or less adaptive reactions.It should be noted that the process of transition of the person with advanced chronic disease from a hospital to a home setting requires nurses and caregivers to build common and shared goals, in which health education plays an important role in the performance of the caregiver's role at home.It is based on health policies and guidelines, as well as on the knowledge of the rights and duties of the person with advanced chronic disease and his/her family, that nurses should guide their daily practice in order to provide quality health care and obtain better results.