The objective of this qualitative study was to identify the knowledge from the family about the chronic condition in childhood, as well as specific care to be given in their home. The data was collected at the pediatric clinic of the Lauro Wanderley University Hospital in Brazil, involving seven care takers of children diagnosed with a chronic disease between January and April of 2008. The collection technique was the semi-structured interview. Data interpretation followed the thematic analysis method. The results reveal that the information given to the family has been given in a very subtle way and the mothers feel difficulties in learning the orientations, given the technical and specific medical vocabulary. This impedes the development of autonomy in their administration of care for the child who has a chronic disease. Mothers' knowledge about their child's disease is not enough for the development of home care. The health team needs to interact with the family, creating the domino effect towards a process of autonomous home care.
Child hospitalized; Chronic disease; Family