Introduction:

Given the need of re-dimensioning the preventive care that the primary health care nurse renders, a systematization of theories supporting and legitimizing the practice of profession oriented to prevention was made; these theories also provide the nursing judgment to carry out and improve the practice of care oriented to the community and the family through the description, prediction and control of phenomena occurring in each preventive health care action. Objective: To systematize the nursing models related to the community- and family-oriented preventive care.

Methods:

A systematic literature review was made through search of original and review articles in LILACS and SciELO databases about the topic in January 2017. The search strategy used keywords such as "nursing theories", "family care" and "community care" by means of AND Boolean operator.

Conclusions:

On the basis of the understanding of nursing care as a human activity going beyond disease, and from a comprehensive vision of the care process, this review assessed the main theoretical elements supporting care to the family and in the community such as interpersonal relationships, culture, changes during the life cycle, preventive approach and family approach, all of which condition and favor this process.

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