Background: Making people feel safe and secure in health care is one of the most importanttasks of nursing. A good response is not only important to patients but also to their relatives. Previously, for most of last century, relatives were not welcome to the psychiatric health care. But research show they are in need of information and support from the health care. It istherefore important that nursing staff learn what kind of response the relatives require.

Aim: To investigate how relatives experience the response from nursing staff within thepsychiatric care.

Method: Qualitative interviews with eight respondents, where the answers were transcribedand analysed to learn how they had experienced the response from nursing staff. In theanalysis the text was condensed and abstracted into subcategories and categories.

Result: The analysis resulted in twelve subcategories and three categories; Feeling valued andmaking a difference, Feeling left out and not wanted, Response improvement suggestions.

Conclusion: This study shows that relatives still to a large extent are left out fromparticipation in psychiatric care, although society has placed the main responsibility on themto support their next of kin. The result shows that relatives require more information andparticipation to be able to support their next of kin. Getting a good response from nursing caremeans for them to be seen, listened to and getting information and support. They don´t wantto be left out any more.