Given the psychiatric reform, family members of mental patients were invited to act as partners in the care provided to users. The role these individuals perform in the relationship service-user conferred importance to their evaluation of quality of care. This study investigates the satisfaction of 54 family caregivers of users of substitute mental health services. The following were used: The Brazilian Mental Health Services' Family Satisfaction Scale (SATIS-BR) and a socio-demographic questionnaire. Data were treated through descriptive and non-parametric statistics. Caregivers presented moderate to high satisfaction. A negative correlation was observed between 'satisfaction with the treatment results' and the variable 'age of users' (p = 0.006). The caregivers mainly indicated broadening activities as a strategy to improve care. The conclusion is that the substitute services should advance in terms of inter-sector cooperation and optimize resources close to the residence of families.
health services evaluation; caregivers; mental health
