[The families and directly observed treatment of tuberculosis: senses and prospects to the production of care].

The purpose was to identify the families' participation on care management of patients with tuberculosis. Also, to ascertain the contribution offered by health professionals for patients'families with ongoing treatment, and investigate the importance attributed by the families to the directly observed treatment It is a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted in the municipality of Ribeirão Preto/SP with families of patients diagnosed with tuberculosis. For data collection, it was developed an instrument that underwent pretesting and content validation. Ninety four subjects were interviewed. According to the results, 64 (68.096) relatives participated in the care management and 81 (86.2%) reported a good relationship with the staff. Sixty three family members (67%) did not receive any guidance about drugs and 75 (80.0%) of the respondents considered the strategy as relevant. The findings indicate that the Directly Observed Treatment has limitations regarding the guidelines of clinical management of the disease, the inclusion of family in care management and understanding of its goals.