#Purpose of genograms in social work how to

Whilst providing a useful summary of the family relationships, genograms do not cover the dynamics in the home and wider family. ages, dates of birth, year or date of death etc.) as this adds more context.

Record as much as you can in terms of additional information (e.g.

It may be useful to add colours to identify specific family groups within the genogram.

It doesn’t have to just be in black and white.

This allows you to keep track of changes over time.

Date when the original genogram was completed, and when any subsequent information is added.

Ensure that you use a large piece of paper – on many occasions an A3 sheet may be necessary due to the complexities of family dynamics.

A quick access guide that you can print for ease of reference can be found at the bottom of the page. You can see that there is a lot of information that can be stored for quick access using a genogram. Initially, it may look confusing, but let’s break it down and look at what the individual parts of the genogram are telling us. Click on the image to see a larger version. Females are represented by circles, and males by squares. Each line in the genogram represents a generation, with all the children on the bottom line, the parent’s generation above them and the grandparent’s generation at the top of the diagram. Through working with him, you have established who the adults are in his immediate family, going back to his mother’s parents. Harry (represented by the green block) is a pupil at your school. Norton and Company Inc.)īy creating and using genograms and ecomaps with children and young people you can establish a lot about the context the child or young person is living in, who is important to them and who may have parental responsibility. A genogram offers the clinician a basic picture of who clients are, where they come from, and who matters in their lives.” “Simply put, a genogram is a map of who you belong to. McGoldrick (2016) describes a genogram as:

Genograms use a common set of symbols, and we will explain how to use these to construct and read a genogram. By creating and using genograms and ecomaps with children and young people, you can establish a lot about the context the child or young person is living in, who is important to them and who may have parental responsibility.

In qualitative research of the supportive and nonsupportive interactions experienced by male family caregivers, the interactive use of genograms and ecomaps (a) facilitated increased understanding of social networks as a context for caregiving, (b) promoted a relational process between researcher and participant, and (c) uncovered findings such as unrealized potential in the participant's social network that may not be revealed with the use of the genogram or ecomap alone, or the noncomparative use of both.A genogram is another way of describing a family tree and can be useful for establishing who is living in the home, who is in the wider family network, and whether there is contact or not. Although development and utilization of genograms and ecomaps is rooted in clinical practice with families, as research tools they provide data that can enhance the researcher's understanding of family member experiences. A genogram is a graphic portrayal of the composition and structure of one's family and an ecomap is a graphic portrayal of personal and family social relationships.

This article argues for the concurrent and comparative use of genograms and ecomaps in family caregiving research.

#Purpose of genograms in social work how to