The role of the family in taking care of chronically ill members

Contemporary medicine assumes the importance of the role of the family in taking care of ill individuals. This article shows results of study of 57 families with chronically ill members. The study has explored 2 related issuses : 1. What functions connected with treatment does the family perform, 2. How does the family cope with it. Most families perform basic functions important for treatment like control of taking drugs and the diet, physical activities, nursing activities. The way families cope with chronical illness of one of its members depends on a level of self-dependence of chronically ill members, family's economic situation and social support. Families receive social support from children, parents, brothers and sisters, less often from neigbours and friends, very rarely and almost never from insitutions