Background. While the provision of respite care is a well-known strategy for supporting caregivers of persons with dementia (PWD), it is still unclear what influences its use by caregivers. Objective. To explore respite care use through the lens of a hopes and expectations framework. Methods. Six caregivers of PWD took part in one semi-structured interview. A phenomenological approach to data collection and analysis was employed. Results. The data showed that caregivers still felt burdened despite utilizing respite care. Hopes and expectations for the PWD tended to converge for all caregivers, yet diverged depending whether they were considering impact on themselves or the PWD, and whether they had used respite care or not. Conclusion. Preliminary data suggests that respite care services may need to focus more on helping caregivers. The framework of hopes and expectations is useful for exploring the use or non-use of respite.