Objective:

To determine the level of adoption of the caregiver role and the quality of life of family caregivers of people with cancer.

Materials and methods:

Descriptive and cross-sectional study with the participation of 50 family caregivers of cancer patients under active treatment. The instrument Adoption of the Role of the Family Caregiver and the Scale of Quality-of-Life, Family version, were applied. Descriptive and comparative analyzes were also carried out.

Results:

Participants were 44.8 years on average and most of them were women (66%). Regarding the adoption of the role, a satisfactory adoption level was identi-fied, with a median of 86.5 points. Quality of life presented a median of 165 points. Significant differences were found in role adoption scores according to the age, education level and socioeconomic status of family caregivers.

Conclusions:

This study found satisfactory levels regarding the adoption of the caregiver role and the quality of life of family caregivers. In order to improve the adoption of such role, health professionals should pay attention to characteristics of the profile of caregivers such as age, education or socioeconomic status.

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