PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the burden, health promotion behavior and health status and to describe the relationship of the burden, health promotion behavior and health status of the family caregivers of intensive care unit patients. METHOD: The subjects were 48 family caregivers of ICU patients in a University Hospital. Data were collected between June, 1 and July, 31, 2000 using structured questionnaires. Research tools used were Suh and Oh's Burden Scale, Revised Walker, Sechrist, and Pender's HPLP(1987) ; Revised Nam's Health State Scale(1965). RESULT: The mean score of burden of family caregiver was 3.01(full score was 5). The mean score of health promotion behavior of family caregiver was 2.52 (full score was 4). And the mean score of health status of family caregiver was 0.68(full score was 1.00). The score of psychological health state was a little higher than the physiological one. In correlational analysis, the burden and the health status of caregivers were reversely correlated . The correlation between the burden and the health promotion behavior, and the health behavior and health status were not significant. CONCLUSION: The more burden caregivers of ICU patients felt, the worse their health status. So nurses need to understand the family caregiver's burden and apply nursing care that can reduce burden, in order to improve the health status of family caregivers.