Elderly caring for the elderly: spirituality as tensions relief.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the forms of coping used to relieve tensions by elderly caregivers of elderly relatives and to know the type of support they receive from the Primary Health Care service at home.

METHOD: A qualitative study with a theoretical-methodological contribution of Grounded Theory, carried out with 10 elderly caregivers interviewed between August 2014 and January 2015.

RESULTS: Participants use primarily religious coping to deal with adverse situations that arise in their lives; they attribute to the sacred the strength to continue to age and care for another elderly person at home. Religiousness was the main coping strategy used by the participants, but little recognized by the health service.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: It is recommended that the Primary Health Care service provide greater support to these caregivers and be attentive to the spiritual dimension as an auxiliary element in the process of comprehensive and inclusive health care of these elderly caregivers.