Direct support for familymember caregivers is not provided as part of homevisit care services under the longterm care insurance system. In the field, however, such support may be given to family mem bers caring for patients, depending on the patient's living situation. In order to examine practical considera tions for home helpers who visit patients in their own homes to provide care (hereafter, "helpers"), inter views were conducted with a patient using the service and a family member who was

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... lso providing care re garding the support they required from helpers. The patient was a female in her seventies, and the family member caregiver was her husband. Wordforword transcripts of the interview responses were analyzed via the Steps for Coding and Theorization (SCAT) method. The results of this analysis revealed two processes, one where the patient was able to recover some independence as a result of the interaction between patient, familymember caregiver and helper. The other showed the familymember caregiver's outlook on life change through their interaction with others. The answers suggest that what made these processes possible was the important role played by having helpers who could change the relationship between and with the pa tient and familymember caregiver by providing housework assistance services.