Aims: To understand how the fear of falls emerges and manifests itself in caregivers of institutionalized elders. Methods: It is a qualitative study, based on the Grounded Theory and carried out with 24 informal caregivers, 5 nurses, 2 physicians and 2 directors of two Portuguese nursing homes. Data collection took place through interviews, participant observation, and documentation analysis, between October 2016 and January 2018. Data was collected and analyzed simultaneously, following the stages of open, axial, and selective coding.