Friday 11/30
Florida State College at Jacksonville HUS3022: Building Stronger Families and Communities The genogram drawing is 15% of the total class points. In order to earn maximum points, the genogram merit submission in a format that evidences a commensurate level of commitment. Your family genogram is worth 150 points and is due in MODULE 5.
What is a genogram? A genogram is a tool developed by Monica McGoldrick—one of the textbook authors, along with Randy Gerson and Sueli Petry and is described in their book: Genograms: Assessment and Intervention (now in its Third edition: Norton Professional Books). Of note, the family diagram, a precursor to the genogram, was developed and used extensively by Murray Bowen. Bowen theory is discussed throughout the texts for this class. As explained on Family systems theory (FamilySystemsTheroy.com):
Bowen drew family diagrams. These diagrams or “family trees” proved to be invaluable because they
1) helped keep the players straight 2) charted important family facts 3)provided a clear gestalt of complex family patterns 4) assisted the therapist and client in hypothesizing about how a clinical problem was connected to the family context and how the problem and the context both evolved over time 5) facilitated systems thinking for therapist and patient alike.
The practice of drawing family diagrams was developed into a uniform therapeutic tool by Monica McGoldrick in her landmark publication Genograms in Family Assessment. Subsequently, the genogram has become a symbol of family systems theory.
Often compared to a family tree, it differs in that it is used to get more detailed information about family of origin patterns and is used by many disciplines including medicine, social work, human services, and any field that works directly with human families. Genograms generally include information about health, mental health, social patterns and problems, marriage, births, divorce, death, sibling position, and can go so far as to include detailed information about family dynamics. As a rule, a genogram is drawn with a minimum of 3 generations. To assist you, resources to access for information on how to construct a genogram are given below. These are for reference only. Instructions for your genogram assignment for this class
are found under the assignment instructions below. If you are interested, you can also search the internet for additional sources.
Resources: Constructing the Multi-‐generational Genogram (SlideShare) Standard Symbols for Genogramsv (.pdf – you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open this file) Genograms: Family Patterns of Communication
Family Genogram Assignment Instructions For this assignment, you will construct a family genogram on your family of origin. To assist you in understanding how to go about constructing a genogram, you will find numerous examples of genograms in the textbook. Additionally, on pages 463-‐465 there are preliminary instructions that will be useful. The above references will also be useful. The best way to understand the value of genograms is to complete one on your own family. Below you will find a list of information that is meaningful to include in your genogram. Please note: often, you will not be able to collect all the information listed on every generation. It is possible that there are some family members on whom you will not be able to collect any information. What is important about the process is to ATTEMPT to gather as much information as you can. Sometimes lack of information, or lack of access to information tells you a great deal about your family of origin. Additionally, although some family members may be very forthcoming about sharing information, some may be hesitant. Its important to respectfully ask questions but if the person is not willing to share the information, let them know that is “okay.” Invite them to share the information in the future, should they want to. Sometimes you can get more information from someone in the family who is one step removed, say an aunt or uncle, versus a parent. It is important to recognize that genograms often bring out family information that is considered sensitive. It is up to you to determine what information actually finds it way onto your genogram. It is useful to use abbreviations or create symbols for information that is sensitive. Only you need to know what they stand for. However, when you are writing your paper, you will be asked to directly discuss significant family patterns you uncovered while completing your genogram. I suggest drawing the genogram BY HAND. You can then take a picture of it and submit to the assignment tab along with the genogram paper. However you construct it, you will need to submit a picture of it. My suggestion is to sketch the genogram in pencil first and then use felt tip pen and a ruler to make the lines and symbols stand out. There are many computer programs and instructions to create genograms on the mac and on windows that could be used, but for this assignment, you will HAND DRAW your genogram.
It may seem that programs or computers make it “easier” but the reasons I find it more useful to draw it by hand are:
a. If you eventually meet with families, you will be drawing their genogram with them by hand-‐-‐as they answer questions about their families.
b. You can suggest they draw and work on their genogram at home. c. Some families may not have access to the technology needed to complete online, but
almost anyone would have use of pen and paper d. When you draw the genogram by hand, you are making a direct connection to the
process and to the information. e. As you handwrite in the names, dates, patterns, the struggles, the children, the
marriages, divorces, challenges, illnesses, careers, strengths, deaths, you are physically connected to the material you are adding to your genogram. Its similar to the difference between hand writing a letter and typing a letter…most of us have experienced that there is a difference between the two.
Before You Start Before you begin drawing your genogram, you will need to do some research on your family of origin, your nuclear family and so on. Attempt to gather as much of this information as you can:
• Attempt to acquire information for 3 generations. • Your grandparents and their siblings • Your parents/caregivers and their siblings, and • Yourself and your siblings. • If you are married/partnering, you will include your partners, even if now not
together, and if you have children, you will include them as a 4th generation . • What is meaningful are details about:
• Names of family members • birth (dates), current ages (age is inside the circle/square of the person) • death, causes of death (if someone has died, there is an x in the circle/square with
their age of death either in the circle/square or just above the circle/square) • date of marriage, divorce, children, miscarriage, abortion, adoption • educational level, occupations • physical illnesses, diseases, incarceration, mental health concerns, drug and alcohol
use, smoking • extensive moves, disconnect from family members • ethnic background, religious persuasion, cultural background
Of Special Importance When drawing your genogram, it is essential to use the appropriate symbols so that I will know who is male, who is female, who is oldest, middle and so on.
• Males are squares • Females are circles • In a standard genogram, each generation is portrayed on different level, from oldest at
the top to youngest at the bottom
• In a standard genogram, the family members in a generation are presented horizontally from oldest to youngest. For example, siblings are drawn with oldest on the left to youngest as you go down the line
• In a standard genogram, your father’s family of origin is on the left, your mother’s family of origin is on the right
• Deaths are illustrated by an x in the circle or square, age and cause of death is noted outside the symbol
Useful examples of hand drawn genograms can be found in this presentation: Generations and Generational Process, part 2 by Kathleen R. Gilbert A few standard guidelines used to construct a genogram Three generations:
• Your paternal grandparents, your father and his siblings on the left • Your maternal grandparents, your mother and her siblings on the right • You and your siblings • Your partner and your children-‐-‐if you have them. You can include your siblings
marriages and their children, especially if you find a family pattern expressed in your sibling’s marriage or their children
• Please substitute “caregivers” for parents in the case that your parents did not raise you but you were raised by alternate family members or others
• If adopted, be sure to indicate that on the genogram • If there are numerous marriages and divorces or there are significant partnerships
that did not lead to marriage, these members need to be included but the position on the genogram does not always follow straight lines. I suggest that you review information on GENOPRO.com. Under the tutorials (Genpro.com/tutorials) there are examples of different family relationships. GENOPRO is an online source that is can be used to draw a genogram. This course does not provide a key to that program but it is a good source for genogram material.
• What is most important in your genogram is for you to clearly understand the relationships between significant family members. Families are complicated and some would say are messy and that is normal!
The completed genogram that you submit for the class must have a minimum of three generations. As much information as you can acquire can be included, but what must be included is the following:
• The ages of your parents/caregivers, siblings, marital partners/significant other, children, ages of grandparents, causes of deaths if any.
• The dates of relationships/marriages, dates of divorce, remarriages, adoptions, still births, miscarriages
• Physical illnesses and date of onset. if known: for example: heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, cancer, diabetes, obesity, or other illness patterns
• Behavioral patterns and date of onset, if known: for example: smoking, alcohol, drug use, addiction, incarceration
• Mental health patterns and date of onset, if known: depression, anxiety, mental health conditions
• Causes of death (including suicide, homicide, drug overdose) Scan your drawing to submit it to Blackboard in .doc, .docx, .pdf, or .jpg format ONLY.