Death and dying of newborns and children: relationships between nursing and family according to Travelbee.

Objective: Identify the nursing staff's perception of their relationship with families of newborns and children who are in the process of death and dying.

Methods: Qualitative research, carried out in the Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of a public maternity hospital in Rio Grande do Norte, with 17 nursing professionals, through a semi-structured interview. After being transcribed, the data were subjected to Bardin's content analysis and interpreted in the light of the theory of Interpersonal Relations proposed by Travelbee.