Meaning is discovered within the creative process. Creativity results in a metaphor for meaning. The women expressed that they were unable to move forward until they were able to tell their stories to those close to them. These women discovered ways to remember and celebrate the lives of their parents and to maintain a relationship with their lost loved ones.

This phenomenological study used depth interviews to discover if adult daughters use creative expression to construct personal meaning after the loss of both parents. Seven women, between the ages of 39 and 57, who had lost both parents and were at least two years into the grieving process, were interviewed.

The literature and research suggests that creative expression, such as telling our stories, is an important strategy for finding meaning in loss. This study seeks to discover if surviving adult daughters construct personal meaning after the loss of both parents by using other forms of creative expression in addition to or in place of narrative and storytelling processes. Models and theories of loss stress that loss and mourning constitute a crisis of meaning. These theories, along with recent studies that reflect how emotions and imagination work alongside the cognitive and rational processes of meaning-making, provide an interpretative framework for understanding the use of creative expression as a way to construct personal meaning.

Death, especially the death of a parent, causes us to re-examine our fundamental assumptions about life and we are charged with working on the meaning of our loss. We are affected on the physical, spiritual, and emotional levels when someone we care for dies. Those who are unable to cope with such loss may be vulnerable to premature illness, exhaustion, and even death. Coping with the death of a loved one is more than getting over the experience and moving on.

Five themes emerged from the study: Relationships, Stories of Loss, Changes, Importance of Family, and Creative Expression After Loss. All of the women used forms of creative expression to construct meaning after the loss of their parents.