FAMILY ECO-MAP: WHAT IS IT FOR, HOW TO DO IT AND AN EXAMPLE - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The family eco-map is a tool that is used in certain disciplines of the health field to study the structure of an individual's family. It also helps to discover how this family is related to a possible extra-family support network.

Both aspects are of great importance in the development and maintenance of all kinds of disorders, both physical and mental. Therefore, studying the relationships of the family with the environment in which it exists and with its social context provides health professionals with a lot of information about their origin.

This tool was proposed for the first time in 1979 by Dr. Ann Hartman, as a means of evaluating how the family unit was related to its environment and its social context.

In part, its popularity is due to the fact that it is so easy to implement; In addition, it is of great help in processes such as evaluation and intervention.

What is it for?

The ecomap differs from other tools such as the familiogram in that the latter is responsible for studying the internal structure of a family.

On the contrary, the ecomap observes the relationship that exists between it and the rest of the society that surrounds it, as well as with other groups such as the extended family, friends and neighbors, or the entire society.

In this sense, carrying out a family eco-map is very useful in the event that it is necessary to intervene with a family or a family member. For this reason, this tool is used in areas such as sociology, community psychology or social work.

Here are some of the most common uses of family ecomaps.

Identify external resources

In the case of the appearance of some type of disorder in one of the members of a family, or of a problem that affects all the members of the same, it is essential to know what resources are available when working to solve it.

In this sense, tools such as the familiogram focus on discovering the strengths produced by the internal relationships of the different members of the family unit.

The ecomap would complement it, by identifying resources that can be extracted from its relations with the social environment in which it is found.

For example, a health professional can identify through an eco-map what kind of economic, educational or social support a family can count on in the event of facing a difficult situation.

Detect deficiencies in the family

By studying the relationship of a family with its environment, a specialist may be able to identify certain problems present in it.

For example, members may not be developing well in emotional or social intelligence, or may not have adequate financial resources.

Thus, the ecomap allows creating an intervention plan to correct these deficiencies that, otherwise, could not have been found.

Diagnose problems within one's own family

On the other hand, studying the relations of the family nucleus with its environment can also be a very useful tool to discover problems present within it.

Thus, if a social worker discovers that the family's relationships are hostile to everyone around them, they may suspect that there is an internal emotional problem.

In this case, the ecomap would not serve as the only diagnostic tool, but it would help guide the following investigations to find an adequate answer.

Detect problems of social exclusion

Finally, in fields such as social work, the ecomap can be of great help to detect those families who are at risk of being excluded.

This can occur due to all kinds of characteristics, such as the ethnicity of its members, their purchasing power or their immigration status.

Social exclusion has a host of disastrous consequences for those who suffer from it; For this reason, the ecomap is once again a great alternative to be able to detect this problem and intervene in time.

How is it done?

One of the advantages of family ecomaps is their ease of preparation. To do this, it is only necessary to follow three steps: design a familiogram, identify the environment and establish the conditions with the family.

Design of a familiogram

The familiogram is a tool used to study the relationships within a family structure. It is very useful to extract a large amount of relevant information in the diagnosis and treatment of problems of all kinds, from physical illnesses to mental disorders.

Once the familiogram has been completed, it is necessary to surround the whole set with a circle, around which the real process of creating the family eco-map will begin.

Environment identification

Around the circle with which the familiogram has been surrounded, other circles will be created that will represent all the extrafamily resources that the person can think of. Within each of these we will enter the name of each of the social networks to which the family belongs.

Examples of these networks would be the college or university, the company where the parents work, the neighborhood community or the group of friends.

Establish family connections

The last step is to match each of these outer circles with the one that represents the family. This union can be done with the whole family or with just one of its members. Depending on the type of relationship that exists, different lines will be used to represent them.

For example, a solid line symbolizes a strong connection. On the other hand, the dotted ones would indicate weak connections, and the dashed ones represent negative relationships or that cause stress. It is also possible to add arrows in the direction in which the resources are moving.

Example

Below you will find an example of a family eco-map, taken from the Family Doctors website, cited in the references.

References

1. "Learn to make a family ecomap" in: Family Doctors. Retrieved on: May 26, 2018 from Family Doctors: medicosfamiliares.com.
2. "How to develop a family eco-map in 3 steps" in: Daniel Alarcón. Retrieved on: May 26, 2018 from Daniel Alarcón: danalarcon.com.
3. "The ecomapa" in: In Colombia. Retrieved on: May 26, 2018 from In Colombia: encolombia.com.
4. "Application of the ecomap as a tool to identify extrafamilial resources" in: Scielo. Retrieved on: May 26, 2018 from Scielo: scielo.org.bo.
5. "How to build an eco-map?" in: I am Social Work. Retrieved on: May 26, 2018 from I am Social Work: soytrabajosocial.com.