As a result, the role of the informal caregiver – the fam ilies and friends of the ill person who provide care and support to their loved one –is becoming more prominent in end-of-life care. [...] The idealization of home care by inexperienced informal caregivers or by professional care providers may further add to the pressure to say Yes to home care or to continue with home care in the face of exhaustion or financial distress. [...] As the ill person and the informal caregiver enter the end-of-life stage, they are each adjusting to the reality that death will occur in the foreseeable future and that the loved one’s physical and mental state may undergo significant changes as death approaches. [...] This links to the issue of the health care system’s focus on hom e care as a cost-saving alternative to publicly funded facility-based care and the loss of alternatives to home care as the number of facility-based beds is reduced. [...] Informal caregivers are often the m ost aware of the loved one’s condition because of the amount of time they spend with them, particularly in home-based care, and because they know the loved one and are sensitive to their states.