[Health decision making in AIDS family caregiver]

AIDS infected patients receive care at home; a family member assumes the caregiver role and takes health decisions that affect the person's life. It is important to know the conflicts that the families are confronting in relation to health decision making, in order to plan intervention strategies according with their real needs. This is a descriptive study, in which a sample of 38 family caregivers of AIDS persons receiving ambulatory care at the Clinica Familia, were used for this research. An O'Connor and Jacobsen instrument was used for this study.

the family caregivers are women, the majority of them are mothers that live with their sick son or daughter, and who had assumed the role at least for 2 years. The family caregivers have conflicts about to continuing or not caring for the sick person, and of telling others about the disease. The family caregivers are in one of the phases of the changing process. Consequently, they are receptive to helping strategies that must be based in interventions oriented to listening and supporting, more than just providing information.