In this paper we present some theoretical presuppositions with respect to the qualification of old-age caregivers proposed by two courses of the city of Rio de Janeiro. We adopted a qualitative methodology, using as instruments for data collection direct observation, tape recording of the ministered classes and interviews with the course managers. Documental sources were the course programs, texts and lists of source materials. The data were ordered in descriptive categories that were compared with the literature. We emphasize: the difference between invisible care, visible care and technical care; the idea of care as a natural value with no need for technical qualification and the concepts of social care and health care. We believe that on giving emphasis to social care (moving away from the figure of disease) or to health care (whose core subject is disease) without paying attention to the importance of technical care, we are not considering the complexity of the subjective and physical aspects of the concrete existence of the old-aged sick individual.
Elderly; Caregiver; Psychosocial rehabilitation