["It's not the old life that we live anymore..."--counselling of relatives in nurse discharge planning].

In Germany, discharge planning has been a mandatory part of hospital care since 2012 to ensure continuity of care and to support patients and relatives while crossing the critical interface between hospital and home care. However, it remains unclear how the information and counselling of informal caregivers integrated into this process can be conceptualised. An explorative study using focus groups was carried out aiming at identifying the carers' views and experiences for a needs-based conceptualisation of the information and counselling in discharge planning. The results indicate when, according to the interviewees, information and counselling should be offered and the importance of trust within the consultation process which should reach beyond the hospital setting. In addition to illness- and care-related aspects as well as organisational and administrative issues, carers also expressed needs for support in emotional coping, problem solving, relief of burden and peer support in everyday life. Integrating carers in the conceptualisation of discharge planning will help to develop needs-based information and counselling services.