Middle‐Range Theory Of Chronic Sorrow

Abstract

Chronic sorrow has been shown to explain the experience of people across the lifespan who encounter ongoing disparity because of significant loss. Nurses need to view chronic sorrow as a normal response to loss and, when it is triggered, provide support by fostering positive coping strategies and assuming roles that increase comfort.

Living in the fallout: Parents' experiences when their child becomes mentally ill

“…Sometimes, families begin to approach acceptance of the mental illness and a sudden relapse in their loved one's condition will cause them to feel the same chaos and confusion that they did at an earlier stage. The responses described by family members suggest that they may be experiencing chronic sorrow (Eakes, Burke, & Hainsworth, 1999). Indeed, the report of family members that their child had changed, that there was no going back, suggests that trigger events that maintain the cycle of sorrow were typical experiences of these families.…”

Sorrow, coping and resiliency: parents of children with cerebral palsy share their experiences

“…Chronic sorrow theory has been found to usefully explain the experiences of parents of children with other disabilities including epilepsy and neural tube deficits yet there is a paucity of current research [8][9][10][11]. According to chronic sorrow theory, grief-related emotions return when triggering events bring the disparity between ideal and actual into focus.…”

“…The theoretical framework of chronic sorrow theory may be a useful context in which to understand the experiences of parents of children with CP because it is a theoretical framework that normalises parental experience Chronic sorrow is defined as the periodic recurrence of grief-related emotions associated with an ongoing disparity between desired and current reality due to a loss experience [8]. Chronic sorrow theory has been found to usefully explain the experiences of parents of children with other disabilities including epilepsy and neural tube deficits yet there is a paucity of current research [8][9][10][11].…”

Problems of Adults with a Mitochondrial Disease – The Patients’ Perspective: Focus on Loss

“…Losses require management methods, which refer to strategies used by the patient (internal management) and to interventions provided by relatives and professionals (external management) both (Issaksson and Ahlstr€ om 2008;Eakes et al 1998). From the results of our study, we conclude that most respondents use different kind of methods managing their multiple losses both effectively and ineffectively.…”