[Psycho-social necessities for an informal caretaker]

Of the many activities which nurses in primary attention care teams carry out, health promotion and prevention of diseases have a prominent place. These activities are not carried out only in Primary Attention Care Centers. For some time now, there has been a tendency to keep dependent patients in their homes as much as possible. For this reason, At Home Care has an important place in nurses' daily practices. This article reviews the concept of an informal caretaker and the main reasons which can cause an overload. At the same time, the authors show the tool which nurses use to know the emotional state of informal caretakers, as well as the environment and the circumstances where they are found. The authors propose to use nursing diagnoses as a planning tool for objectives and action strategies to overcome the shortages detected.