Chronic grief is a feeling of intense, recurring grief experienced by parents or guardians of children with chronic illnesses throughout their lives. It is a permanent state of being, unlike the stages of grief which end with acceptance and moving on with life. This report will examine what chronic grief is, provide a brief history of its development and introduction to nursing, and relate the importance of this middle-ground theory to modern nursing practice. As noted previously, chronic grief is a recurring feeling of sadness in parents and guardians of children with intellectual disabilities. The concept of chronic grief tends to focus on parents of mentally disabled children and amputees; however, chronic grief may also apply to people whose children have chronic illnesses but no developmental problems (Lowes, L., Lyne, P., 2000). Feelings of grief typically revolve around the loss or “death” of the child who was imagined to be perfect and healthy at the time of first diagnosis. It has been compared to the grief of a relative of the deceased ...