Social Work and Social Policy
SWSP5631 Social Work Methods 2: Practicing from Theory
Working with People
Workshop 8 Guide: Assessment - Tools
Resources
Read/View:
Allan Edward Barsky (2022) Sexuality- and Gender-Inclusive Genograms: Avoiding Heteronormativity and
Cisnormativity, Journal of Social Work Education, 58:2, 379- 389, DOI: 10.1080/10437797.2020.1852637
Crawford, M. R., Grant, N. S., & Crews, D. A. (2016). Relationships and Rap: Using Ecomaps to Explore the Stories
of Youth Who Rap. British Journal of Social Work. 46, pp 239-256.
Further reading:
Doyle, Kerrie, et al. ‘Study of Intra-racial Exclusion within Australian Indigenous Communities Using Eco-maps’. International
Journal of Mental Health Nursing, vol. 26, no. 2, Apr. 2017, pp. 129–41, https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12259.
Other readings and tools found online to further inform your understanding and application of genograms, ecomaps, cultural
grams and questioning.
Workshop Aims
• Identify components of a particular Assessment
• Understanding diverse array of assessment types
• Develop an understanding of genograms and other assessment tools and how they aid
in the engagement process
• Appreciate different forms of questioning
• Apply genogram skills
**Appoint someone to keep an eye on the time you have for each task**
Activity1. Developing Genograms with people (50 mins)
IN PAIRS. Choose whoever you feel comfortable working with (this doesn’t necessarily need to
be someone from your allocated small group)
With your partner, choose who will go first. One interviewer and interviewee. EACH go to
spend 25 minutes, before exchanging roles for another 25 minutes. Be sure to each take the
full time of 25 minutes to develop a detailed genogram.
Only share what you are willing and comfortable to share.
Each person will have a turn at the interviewer and interviewee:
Interviewees can choose to speak about:
(a) Their own family
(b) A family they know well, changing some details to make them unidentifiable
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(c) An invented family, which may be a composite of families they have known. (ie The
Simpsons or a favourite TV family)
It will be assumed that the person being interviewed has not arrived for counselling for
particular problem/s. Therefore, questions of ‘the problem/s’ will not be asked.
Students’ examples of areas of questioning you may wish to pursue are:
• Questions on household context (Who makes up your family?)
• Gather information on parents’ birth families
• Inquire about other generations
• Elicit attitudes about gender
• Ask about major life events
• Inquire about family relationships
• Inquire about family strengths
• Ask about culture
It is important not to rush the genogram – aim to spend 25 minutes for each person.
Do not try and ask all the questions if it feels hurried. Interviewers should be responsive to the
willingness of the interviewee to relate events and experiences of a sensitive nature.
Remember your engaging and attending skills.
Interviewees should take their time and reveal only those aspects of personal and
family life they feel comfortable doing so. Remember you don’t need to speak of your
own family.
Activity 2. Self Reflection (15 minutes)
After drawing the genograms each student is to spend 15 minutes alone answering the
following questions. This personal reflection is not for sharing with the class unless you want
to draw attention to a particular response.
When you were the interviewee:
How difficult or easy was it for you to reveal information about yourself and your family?
What was most difficult and what was most easy?
What thoughts do you have as why these aspects were difficult or easy?
What did you talk about or notice that was expected?
What did you talk about or notice that was unexpected?
Were there gaps in your knowledge of your family history? If yes, what were they and how
come you think those gaps have come about?
Were there positive or negative patterns you discovered when you drew the genogram? If so,
what difference does that make to you now?
Can you think of a word or phrase to describe your family history? Why does that word or
phrase come to mind?
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When you were the interviewer:
How difficult or easy was it for you to elicit events and experiences from the interviewee?
• What was most difficult and what was most easy?
• What thoughts do you have as why these aspects were difficult or easy?
• What would you need to develop to enhance your interviewing/engaging skills?
• When you think about both interviews, in what ways did your family experiences differ
from one another?
• When you think about both interviews, in what ways were your family experiences
similar to one another?
Return to class as 3.20pm
Preparation for week 9!
We continue to work on assessment tools. This week we cover ecomaps and cultural grams.
Enjoy your Tuition Free Week
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