Genogram and Ecomap Use in Family Nursing Practice

Genogram and Ecomap Use in Family Nursing Practice
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Genogram and Ecomap Use in Family Nursing Practice
In family nursing practice, it is critical to understand patients and their families. According to Luttik (2020), the family nursing practice requires nurses to approach family in the context of healthcare in terms of how families and family relationships impact healthcare outcomes and how health and diseases impact families. As such, family nurses need effective tools to help them assess families and provide care to families as the unit of care. Genograms and ecomaps are some of the tools that are used in family nursing to help nurses to visualize the structures and social relationships of families. Shajan and Snell (2019) reveal that genograms and ecomaps are helpful in the visualization of the internal and external structures of a family. This paper will explore the components, the value, advantages, and disadvantages of genograms and ecomaps in family nursing.
Components of Genogram and Ecomap
The genogram contains at least three family generations (Kaakinen et al., 2018; Shajan & Snell, 2019). This gives nurses an understanding of the family’s history and interactions. Genograms also contain symbols that are used to denote specific details about the family (Shajan & Snell, 2019). The generally used symbols are circles, squares, and lines. Further, genograms contain details about the family members. Details such as the name and age of each family member are included inside the circle or square while other details are included outside (Shajan & Snell, 2019). Details of a family member’s death, marriage, and health history are also included in the genogram.
On the other hand, an ecomap contains a large circle surrounded by smaller circles (Kaakinen et al., 2018). The large circle contains the family genogram while the smaller circles contain people, institutions, or agencies that are significant to the family (Shajan & Snell, 2019). This includes friends, extended family members, and school. It also includes environmental components such as the family’s living situation and social support services such as food stamps and healthcare coverage, among others (Stewart & Dennert, 2017). This provides a clear picture of the sources of support for the family.
Value of Genograms and Ecomaps in Family Nursing
Genograms and ecomaps are valuable tools in family nursing practice. According to Robinson et al. (2022), these tools allow the family and the nurse to identify alternative solutions to their situation and potential sources of social support to help them through the situation. As a result, family nurses can use this information to focus their interventions and care to enhance the family’s self-care ability. They also allow nurses to clearly see how family members interact with each other and with their social networks outside of the family, and this is valuable in understanding whether the family has supportive or unsupportive family relationships (Robinson e...