Background: Shifts in locations and levels of care and changing demographics have created a high demand for informal family caregivers. The U.S. healthcare system could not sustain the financial or human resources necessary to meet the needs of care recipients who are dying without the assistance of informal family caregivers. End-of-life caregivers pay a price— emotional, social, financial, and physical—throughout the caregiving process. Many factors contribute to the cost of caregiving, such as caregiver distress and burden.
