An excellent question. I think there is a fairly high level of understanding now that we are in that kind of third era in which families, in particular, are doing the vast amount of care of frail older adults and of younger adults with disability. In fact, in our own work, we and others would suggest that about 80% of the care of older adults is provided by families. And the people who are presently in nursing homes tend to be those who are very old and who have some kind of dementia.
Having said that, I think we're still really beginning to catch up in our understanding of how we might best support families who are providing that kind of care. That's where a lot of the emphasis is now, I think, and that's why this report really is about focusing on not only the individual veteran, but on family members.
There's a lot of interest, I think, in families and caregiving and how to support those family members. I think we can continue to do better by thinking about the variety of caregivers. The kind of support an elderly spouse might need could differ considerably from the support needed by a daughter who's a caregiver, who's trying to juggle her own responsibilities to her children, her labour force engagement, and her care of her mother or father.