Introduction:

The existence of a cancer patient within any family implies several challenges and leads to a necessity for reorganization of the whole family in order to provide care for this individual, sometimes ceasing to take care of themselves and generating new demands, often neglected.

Objective:

To understand, from the perspective of family caregivers, how the process of caring for the person with cancer impacts the caregiver’s life and family dynamics.

Methods:

Descriptive and exploratory study, with a qualitative approach, carried out, from December 2016 to January 2017, with family caregivers of people with cancer, in Viçosa City, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Data collection was carried out with seven family caregivers, using a guide with open questions and structured on the basis of the Zarit scale, which was interrupted when the data was saturated. The analysis was carried out using the content analysis technique.

Results:

Family caregivers showed alterations in basic human needs related to the psychobiological, psychosocial and psychospiritual domains. Such aspects guide the actions of health professionals and validate the importance of holistic and humanitarian assistance for the caregiver, who also needs care.

Conclusions:

Nursing professionals must act in planning actions that focus on educational, psychological, humanized, empathic and comprehensive support and health promotion, added to the family nucleus care plan, in order to minimize the physical, psychological and social exhaustion of the caregiver.

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