Background:

the family constitutes the individual's first social support network. Its study is a priority, given the close relationship between health and the type of family in which the individual is inserted, with special relevance in the elderly.

Objective:

to describe the results of the psychosocial diagnosis of the family health situation in nuclei with an institutionalized elderly in the grandparents' home.

Methods:

descriptive cross-sectional study on a conveniently selected sample made up of five families from the Rodas municipality, in Cienfuegos, which had an institutionalized elderly in grandparents' homes. The semi-structured interview was used, the FFsil to measure the functionality of the family and CAS-7 to determine the need for social support in the family.

Results:

the incorporation of the elderly to the grandparents' home had a positive influence, based on the progress of their dimensions, interpersonal relationships, validity, social integration and emotional states, with adequate family health and fundamentally critical life processes. The 84.2% have moderate functionality, only one family has dysfunction. The 84.2% of families need between something and a lot of social support, according to the need for emotional and interpersonal support, only the 15.7% need material support.

Conclusions:

family members describe family health based on its conditioning factors, with tendencies towards homogeneity and functionality in family, with the need for social, emotional, interpersonal and material support, of different gradients.

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