Professional support for family caregivers of people with serious and persistent mental illnesses.

1. Professional support for family caregivers of people with serious and persistent mental illnesses is essential to ensuring the well-being of the caregivers and maximizing the functioning of the ill person. 2. Significant percentages of family caregivers had never received critical elements of instrumental and affective support from mental health care professionals. 3. The role of psychiatric nurses encompasses the responsibility to address these deficits, as well as multiple opportunities to do so.