Abstract

Chronic sorrow represents a natural phenomenon that occurs in parents of chronically ill children.  Quantitative and qualitative endeavors provide evidence in the literature that chronic sorrow exists and occurs in parents of children with multiple disease processes, including cystic fibrosis, diabetes, myelomeningocele, and Down syndrome.  Considering this substantial evidence, interventions for these parents are necessary to afford more positive outcomes.  The purpose of this poster is to describe possible factors that may have affects on the duration and intensity of these feelings.  It is an initial step in forming positive interventions. Using Nursing as Caring theory, the Wellness Model, and relationship propositions from Peplau, multiple regression is used to determine if factors such as mutuality, nurse, dose, caring, presence, and/or connectedness have affects on experiences of chronic sorrow in parents of children with Down syndrome.