An essay that aims to reflect on the family experience of care in chronic situation, increasing the understanding of the family as the primary caregiver. It is based on comprehensive approach in studies conducted in three matrix searches from family care experiences. We have taken three axes to organize our reflections: a) conformation of family care in chronic situation, highlighting the multiple costs incurred to the family, which can exhaust the potential of care and establish or increase its vulnerability if it is not backed by networks support and sustenance; b) family rearrangements for the care, giving visibility to care cores in which many loved family members share the care, dynamic, plural and changeable way; c) self care modeling family care, pointing to the range of possibilities of the person taking care of diseased conditions supported by people close to them. We learn that the family takes care of itself in everyday life and in the illness experience, creating networks that can provide you support and sustenance. Thus, professionals in health practices should shape up in a longitudinal and very personal way, by reference to the family care, supporting him in what is his own.
Health care; Family; Family caregivers; Chronic disease; Qualitative research
