Genogram for the Hernandez Family Case
For members of the sandwich generation who are working outside the home, flexible work schedules can help alleviate the stresses associated with both caregiving responsibilities and work responsibilities. The Family and Medical Leave Act, adopted in 1993, guarantees family caregivers some unpaid leave. In addition, some large corporations provide time off for caregiving.
Assessing and Intervening in Family Systems Families are characterized by multiple ongoing interactions. When social workers intervene with families, there is much to observe and understand. The dimensions of family interaction that will be dis- cussed here include communication, family norms, and problems commonly faced by families. In addi- tion, two prominent family-assessment instruments will be described: the ecomap and the genogram.
Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Communication involves transmitting information from one person to another, using a common system of symbols, signs, or behaviors. Verbal communica- tion involves the use of words and will be addressed first.
The first phase of verbal communication involves the translation of thoughts into words. The informa- tion sender must know the correct words and how to put them together. Only then will the information have the chance of being effectively received. The sender may be vague or inaccurate in forming the message, and interruptions and distractions may detract from the communication process.
The information receiver then must be receptive to the information. That is, he or she must be paying attention both to the sender and to the sender’s words. The receiver must understand what the spe- cific words mean. Inaccuracies or problems at any point in this process can stop the information from getting across to the receiver. At any point, distor- tions may interfere.
Verbal communication patterns inside the family include who talks a lot and who talks only rarely. They involve who talks to whom and who defers to whom. They also reflect the subtle and not so subtle qualities involved in family members’ relationships.
The sender also transmits nonverbal messages along with the verbal messages. These include facial
expressions, body posture, emotions displayed, and many other subtle aspects of communication. Some- where between verbal and nonverbal aspects of com- munication are voice inflection, intonation, and loudness. All this gives the receiver additional infor- mation about the intent and specific meaning of the message that’s being sent. Sometimes the receiver will attribute more value to the nonverbal aspects of the message than to the verbal.
For example, a 17-year-old son asks his father, “Dad, can I have the car next Saturday night?” Dad, who’s in the middle of writing up his tax re- turns (which are due in two days), replies “No.” Harry interprets this to mean that his father is an authoritarian tyrant who does not trust him with the family car. Harry stomps off in a huff. However, what Dad was really thinking was that he and Mom need the car this Saturday because they’re taking their best friends, the Jamesons, out for their 20th wedding anniversary. Dad was also thinking that perhaps the Jamesons wouldn’t mind driving. Or maybe he and Harry could work something out to share the car. At any rate, Dad really meant that he was much too involved with the tax forms to talk about it and would rather discuss it during dinner.
This is a good example of ineffective communica- tion. The information was vague and incomplete, and neither person clarified his thoughts or gave feedback to the other. There are endless variations to the types of ineffective communication that can take place in families. Social workers can often help to clarify, untangle, and reconstruct communication patterns.
One especially important aspect of assessing mes- sages is whether they are congruent or incongruent. Communication is incongruent when two or more messages contradict each other’s meaning. In other words, the messages are confusing. Contradictory messages within families disturb effective family functioning.
Nonverbal messages can sometimes contradict verbal messages. For example, a recently widowed woman says, “I’m sorry Frank passed away,” with a big grin on her face. The information expressed by the words indicates that she is sad. However, her accompanying physical expression shows that she is happy. Her words are considered socially appropri- ate for the situation. However, in this particular case, she seems relieved to get rid of “the old buz- zard” and happy to be the beneficiary of a large life insurance policy.
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The double message reflected by the widow’s ver- bal and nonverbal behavior provides a relatively simple, clear-cut illustration of potential problem communication within families. However, congru- ence is certainly not the only important aspect of nonverbal communication. All of the principles of nonverbal communication discussed in Chapter 11 can be applied to communication within families.
Family Norms Family norms are the rules that specify what is con- sidered proper behavior within the family group. Many times the most powerful rules are those that are not clearly and verbally stated. Rather, these are implicit rules or repeated family transactions that all family members understand but never discuss. It’s important for families to establish norms that allow both the entire family and each individual member to function effectively and productively.
Every family differs in its individual set of norms or rules. For example, the Myers family believes the husband’s role is to earn enough money to support his wife and three children. Mr. Myers works as a bus driver for the city he lives in, and makes about $50,000 a year. He works 40 hours a week, and then is free to lie on the couch or pursue his hobbies of hunting and fishing. His wife is expected to stay at home, raise the children, and perform all the house- hold tasks. She also home-schools the three school- age children. The Myers attend a fundamentalist church that urges the wife to play a supportive role to her husband. Mrs. Myers is unaware that she puts in more than 100 hours per week performing all her teaching and domestic tasks. The children are ex- pected to concentrate on their studies, and are not asked to help out around the house. As a result, Mrs. Myers is becoming physically and emotionally exhausted, looks haggard, and her blood pressure is elevated.
The Woodbeck family has very different norms. Mr. and Mrs. Woodbeck value earning a lot of money so that the family can take exotic vacations and live a life of luxury. Mr. Woodbeck is an attor- ney, and Mrs. Woodbeck is a physician. They have a live-in housekeeper, Donna Maloney, who performs most of the domestic tasks. The Woodbecks send their two teenage children to a private high school and have urged them to aspire to attend prestigious colleges and eventually become high-paid profes- sionals. Mr. and Mrs. Woodbeck cherish the values that the school is helping to instill in their children,
as well as the socialization components of the school. Mr. and Mrs. Woodbeck have few hobbies, as both of them work an average of 70-plus hours per week. Their free time is spent primarily on fam- ily activities.
Social workers need to help families identify and understand that inappropriate, ineffective norms can be changed. For example, it simply is not in Mrs. Myers’s best interest to be putting in more than 100 hours a week on home-schooling and do- mestic tasks. If a social worker became involved (perhaps after a referral from Mrs. Myers’s physi- cian, who is concerned about her blood pressure), that social worker could help Mrs. Myers (and prob- ably eventually Mr. Myers) to examine the family norms that are adversely affecting her. Once such norms are identified, the social worker could help them clarify alternative solutions and help them as- sess which is the best solution for them.
Family System Assessment: The Ecomap An ecomap is a paper-and-pencil assessment tool that practitioners use to assess specific troubles and plan interventions for clients. The ecomap is a drawing of the client/family in its social environ- ment. An ecomap is usually drawn jointly by the social worker and the client. It helps both the worker and the client achieve a holistic or ecologi- cal view of the client’s family life and the nature of the family’s relationships with groups, associations, organizations, other families, and individuals. It has been used in a variety of situations, including mar- riage and family counseling, and adoption and foster-care home studies. The ecomap has also been used to supplement traditional social histories and case records. It is a shorthand method for recording basic social information. The technique helps users (clients and practitioners) gain insight into clients’ problems and better sort out how to make construc- tive changes. The technique provides a “snapshot view” of important interactions at a particular point in time. The primary developer of the technique is Ann Hartman (1978).
A typical ecomap consists of a family diagram surrounded by a set of circles and lines used to de- scribe the family within an environmental context. The ecomap user can create her or his own abbrevia- tions and symbols (see Figure 12.2).
To draw an ecomap, a circle (representing the cli- ent’s family) is placed in the center of a large, blank sheet of paper (see Figure 12.3). The composition of
Sociological Aspects of Young and Middle Adulthood 557
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the family is indicated within the family circle. A number of other circles are drawn in the area sur- rounding the family circle. These represent the other systems (that is, the groups, other families, indivi- duals, and organizations) with which the family or- dinarily interacts.
Different kinds of lines are drawn to describe the nature of the relationships that the members of the client family have with the other systems. The direc- tional flow of energy (indicating giving and/or re- ceiving of resources and communication between the client family members and the significant sys- tems) is expressed by the use of arrows. A case example of the use of an ecomap follows.
Barb and Mike Haynes are referred to the Adult Services Unit of the Greene County Human Services Department by Dean Medical Clinic. The clinic has been treating Mike’s mother, Ruth Haynes, for Alz- heimer’s disease since she was diagnosed with the disorder four years ago. For the past three years she has been living with Barb and Mike. She now requires round-the-clock care, because during the evening hours she has trouble sleeping, wanders around the house, and starts screaming when she
40 Female, 40 years old
Male, 38 years old
Person, sex, and age unknown
Deceased female, died at age 62
A stressful, conflict-laden relationship
A tenuous, uncertain relationship
A positive relationship or resource (the thicker the line, the stronger or more positive the relationship or resource)
The direction of the giving and receiving exchange in a relationship or resource (in some relationships, the client may primarily receive or give)
38
62
FIGURE 12.2 Commonly Used Symbols in an Ecomap
Client family
Social environment
An ecomap is an assessment tool for depicting the relationships and interactions between a client family and its social environment. The largest circle in the center depicts the client family. The surrounding circles represent the significant groups, organizations, other families, and individuals that make up the family’s social environment.
FIGURE 12.3 Setting Up an Ecomap
© Ce ng ag e Le ar ni ng
20 13
© Ce ng ag e Le ar ni ng
20 13
558 Understanding Human Behavior and the Social Environment
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
becomes lost and confused. Dean Medical Clinic has referred Barb and Mike Haynes to the Adult Services Unit to explore alternative caregiving arrangements.
