Family Genogram: Its Significance and Cfam Model

Introduction

A genogram is made up of and combined with different geometrical shapes, filled up with detail information of a family (Wright & Leahey, 2013). Structurally, it looks like a family tree, however, family genogram contains more messages, such as the relationship between each family member and the strengths and weaknesses that are open to see ('Genograms for Psychotherapy (Guide) | Therapist Aid', 2016). The main purpose of building a genogram is to have a comprehensive view of the background of this family. Genogram not only just gives nurses a general understanding of what has happened in this family, but also provides an idea of the family’s mental illness, which is very essential for medical workers to be familiar with. Especially when an emergency happened, the family genogram could help doctors and nurses investigate the potential risk or illness in a very short time, which could save the patient’s life in some way.

Understanding Any Family Genogram

Besides, completing a proper family genogram can help nurses or other medical staff to comprehend the relationship between each individual clearly. Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM) According to Wright and Leahey (2013), the Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM) was been defined as an imploded and multidimensional structure. This framework has been wildly used among nursing students, cause it provided a clear image of the goal family, in terms of their family medical history, strengths and weakness, and other useful information in order to resolve different kinds of issues (Maribel, 2017). There are three parts that make up the CFAM model: structural, developmental, and functional. From a structural perspective, nurses can subdivide information into internal, external, and context (Doenges & Moorhouse, 2013). Messages on this level are more kind of superficial and easy to understand. It can help nurses to briefly have knowledge of the history of this family, including their social class, sexual orientation, subsystems, and so on. Development is the second stage of the CAFM model. When creating this part of the model, it requests medical staff to clarify what are this family facing at this moment (Liu, Codd & Mills, 2018). It is a good and efficient way to analyze the condition of the goal family. By drawing their life cycle, in order to have a full picture of what they had been through, what are they going through, and what they may facing in the future (McGuffin, 2018). Last but the most major category is the functional assessment. This component depicts the interaction between each individual member (Kiik, Mahathir & Prasetyono, 2017).

Conclusion

By listening to people’s daily activities, it could help nurses catch the key point of this person, and then reach a decision of his/her personality and characteristics for future use (Hawthorne, 2013). When it comes to the expressive aspect, medical workers can have a lot of different kinds of methods of communication with each family member (Christensen & Kockrow, 2013). For instance, from the influence and power side, it can be very useful to define what role he/she is playing. A person can represent different roles at the same time, for example, mother, daughter, and wife can be acted by one person, however it should be pointed out that the power and the responsibility is also changing regarding of which role is on the stage right now (The National Academies of Sciences, Medicine, Services, Care & The National Academies Of Sciences Engineering, 2015). 

Works Cited

1. Wright, L. M., & Leahey, M. (2013). Nurses and families: A guide to family assessment and intervention. F.A. Davis.
2. Genograms for Psychotherapy (Guide) | Therapist Aid. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.therapistaid.com/worksheets/genograms.pdf
3. Maribel, S. (2017). Implementing the Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM) to Enhance Patient Care. The Journal of Nursing Practice, Education and Scholarship, 7(2), 1-8.
4. Doenges, M. E., & Moorhouse, M. F. (2013). Application of the Calgary Family Assessment Model. Nursing Diagnosis Manual, 4th Edition, 1133-1143.
5. Liu, J., Codd, S., & Mills, J. (2018). Understanding Family and Social Environment from a Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM) Perspective: Application of a Conceptual Model. Open Journal of Nursing, 8(4), 262-275.
6. McGuffin, P. (2018). Use of the Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM) in Geriatric Assessment. Nursing Times, 86(28), 30-33.
7. Kiik, A., Mahathir, M., & Prasetyono, J. (2017). Application of the Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM) in Palliative Care. Annals of Palliative Medicine, 6(4), S305-S310.
8. Hawthorne, D. M. (2013). Understanding the family from a structural perspective. In W. H. Walsh (Ed.), Normal Family Processes: Growing Diversity and Complexity (4th ed., pp. 325-343). Guilford Press.
9. Christensen, B. R., & Kockrow, E. O. (2013). Foundations and Adult Health Nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences.
10. The National Academies of Sciences, Medicine, Services, Care, & The National Academies Of Sciences Engineering. (2015). Families Caring for an Aging America. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.