Genogram and Ecomap for Family Nursing Assessment
A genogram is a graphical representation that shows the family structure and relationships of three generations. Ecomap is a pictorial representation of the relationship between an individual and the surrounding or the community. Nurses and other healthcare providers use these tools in family nursing assessment to provide health care.
The tools use symbols to show relationships, and the diseases family members have. They also indicate the cause of death among family members. That helps nurses assess the common behaviors and chronic illnesses in the family, such as diabetes and hypertension, to provide the necessary intervention. Genograms play a significant role in reducing health care costs.
Also, they form a basis for counseling and nursing education. For instance, if a family has a history of drug addiction, the health care provider provides the family with the right guidance on how to quit drug misuse. Genograms and ecomaps save time as they are self-explanatory; they provide information about the family’s health history.
Although ecomaps and genograms have some limitations, they are essential in providing information to nurses on possible hereditary diseases. Their disadvantages include; they don’t give information on other health conditions, social values, race, diet, ethnicity, and religious beliefs. Genograms and ecomaps are liable to distortion, which can lead to false interpretation. Currently, no software can create genograms.
Murray Bowen and George Medical center first created genograms in the 1950s and 60s. They help nurses unveil family problems and plan to implement necessary interventions in health care. Genograms are essential as they highlight health risks, unravel recurring diseases, and help identify families’ weaknesses and critical resources to solve them.
Information retrieved from these tools enables the provision of personalized care as the nurses can establish a diagnosis. They act as data collection tools. Genograms make it easy to plan, implement, and assess a nursing intervention to facilitate disease prevention and health promotion.
Hartman founded ecomaps in 1975; his core goal was to establish the relationship between a person and the surrounding. Nurses develop therapeutic relationships as they try to find out more from the family on the underlying health problems and vulnerabilities to apply them in clinical practice. Genograms and ecomaps are essential in research and education. While ecomaps help nurses analyze aspects, such as social-cultural values and availability of economic resources, genograms expound on family composition, relationships, and interactions. A genogram shows the gender, age, and blood relations between families.
References
Rempel, Gwen R., Anne Neufeld, and Kaysi Eastlick Kushner. “Interactive use of genograms and ecomaps in family caregiving research.” Journal of family nursing 13.4 (2007): 403-419.
Olsen, Sharon, Sharon Dudley‐Brown, and Patricia McMullen. “Case for blending pedigrees, genograms, and ecomaps: Nursing’s contribution to the ‘big picture’.” Nursing & health sciences 6.4 (2004): 295-308.
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