Letting go of preconceptions: a novel approach to creating memorial services.

This article presents a novel application of grounded theory (GT) to the creation of memorial services. Several relevant aspects of GT methodology are presented that have made a positive and significant contribution to the creation of relevant, meaningful, and hopeful memorial services. The relevance of the GT (the story) that emerges as the memorial service lies in the very manner in which the story is created. Here the story itself is the means of responding to the problem, the basic social and psychological process of dealing with loss. "Letting go of preconceptions" is the core variable. It provides the means whereby the energy invested in responding to the problem is best guided in creating meaningful and hopeful stories. Suggested areas of applications and relevance for this methodology, within areas where creating stories of meaning and hope are essential to healing, also are presented.