Exploring chronic sorrow through the theory of Georgene G. Eakes, Mary L. Burke and Margaret A. Hainsworth

Illnesses and unexpected life events are situations that can impair an individual’s functioning and disrupt their daily activities. Georgene Gaskill Eakes, Mary Lermann Burke, and Margaret A. Hainsworth are three American nurses who developed the theory of chronic sorrow at the end of the twentieth century to describe how the perceived gap between an ideal life and one shaped by functional losses generates sorrow for the person and their loved ones. The aim of this article is to describe how the theory was developed and what it offers health care professionals in helping them identify this type of experience and understand the factors that will influence people’s reactions. The theory of chronic sorrow also offers avenues for nursing intervention to find ways of overcoming this type of emotional suffering.