[Formal care systems consequences of a vision on informal caretakers]

Care for dependent persons falls, fundamentally, on their family members who usually perceive this situation as a problem due to its repercussions on the family group in general and on the health and quality of life for the informal caretaker in particular. The burden which an informal caretaker assumes depends on diverse variables among which the most important are considered to be social assistance and the forms of help which the caretaker has to rely on. At the same time, the resources and help available are determined by the vision which the formal system has for informal caretakers; therefore, it is important that nurses, as caretakers in the formal system, have a clear idea about the situations that are created and that nurses reflect on the alternatives which allow a dependent person to be cared for without forgetting the needs and rights of the caretakers.