What does an ecomap look like?
A circle in the middle for the person or household, smaller circles around it for each outside system (school, work, family, health care, friends, agencies), and lines between them whose style shows the strength and quality of each connection. Arrows show which way energy or resources flow.
What are the ecomap symbols?
There is no single official key, but most practice guides follow Ann Hartman’s original convention: a thick solid line for a strong connection, a thin line for an ordinary one, a dashed line for a tenuous one, hatched or zigzag lines for stress, and arrows for the direction of energy. Always include a key on the finished ecomap.
What should be included in an ecomap?
Every system that meaningfully supports or stresses the client: extended family, friends, work or income, school, health and mental health services, faith or cultural community, recreation, and any agencies (social services, courts, housing). Add a short note to each line when the reason matters, and date the ecomap.
What is the difference between a family ecomap and an individual ecomap?
A family ecomap puts the household in the centre (often with a small genogram inside the circle) and maps the family’s shared systems. An individual ecomap puts one person in the centre and maps their personal connections. Child-centred ecomaps in social work are a common individual variant.
What is an ecomap used for in nursing?
In family nursing (for example the Calgary Family Assessment Model) the ecomap shows a patient’s formal and informal care network: who provides care, which services are reliable, and where gaps such as transport or isolation put the patient at risk.
Who created the ecomap?
Social worker Ann Hartman developed the ecomap in 1975 and described it in “Diagrammatic Assessment of Family Relationships” (Social Casework, 1978).