Introduction:

one of the most important tasks competing to caregivers is self-care, although it is frequently neglected. Immersed in the tasks of care, they underestimate the attention to problems they suffer as a consequence of their activity, so it is pertinent to explore their level of knowledge on this matter.

Objective:

to design a proposal of training strategy for the self-care of relative taking care of cancer patients.

Materials and methods:

cross-sectional descriptive study in 25 relatives taking care of cancer patients in the Teaching Policlinic Carlos Verdugo, of Matanzas municipality, in the period between September and December 2019. The researchers used theoretical methods: the analytic-synthetic one, the inductive-deductive, and the historical-logical; and empiric methods: the Appraisal of Self-care Agency Scale, a questionnaire to assess knowledge, and a documental review to individual medical records and family health records.

Results:

76 % of the family caregivers associated to the care of cancer patients have a regular global capacity. Regarding to personal well-being dimensions, sufficient food consumption, and personal functioning and development showed regular results. It was found the existence of knowledge gaps to satisfy the necessities related with self-care.

Conclusions:

the need of designing a training strategy contenting specific aspects of self-care was considered.

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