Introduction:

Research on caregivers has become important because of the negative effects this activity causes in the physical, psychological and social aspects of these people due to their prolonged dedication to the care of patients, whose illnesses prevent them from fully looking for themselves.

Objective:

To describe the characteristics of the main caregivers of pediatric patients with cystic fibrosis.

Methods:

A cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in the second semester of 2016, with 54 main caregivers of patients under 19 years old that were attended in "Centro Habana Pediatric Hospital" , "Juan Manuel Márquez" (Marianao´s municipality Pediatric Hospital), and "William Soler" (Boyeros municipality´s Pediatric Hospital).

Results:

Caregivers are women, mostly mothers, with no employment, with a medium superior level of education, who are devoted to caring for the sick patients full-time, and this interferes with their personal and social life. Given these situations, they respond with a medium capacity for coping and adapting to situations that generate stress.

Conclusions:

Coping strategies used by caregivers are affected because they do not generate effective responses that allow them to adapt and respond to situations in an optimal way, so it is necessary to reinforce the resources they are using. The goal of nursing as a science and as a discipline is a very important factor in obtaining those necessary resources to improve the quality of life of children, adolescents and their caregivers.

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