In Chapter 4 of Family Therapy: An Overview, you read about systems theory and systemic thinking, which applies systemic thinking to the family unit.
It is important for you to know that the family can be understood within different levels of the system.
There is the view of the family unit as a system, which focuses on relationships among family members (the focus of the structural model), and there is the ecological model, which views the family unit within a broader social context: the neighborhood, community, and organizations including school and work, that influence the family.
Visual aids can help both researchers and clinicians understand families in either context: family diagrams provide a visualization of the functioning within the family unit, while ecomaps depict the family in a broader social context.
How would a researcher or clinician decide which visual aid to use for a given research question or clinical problem? Response Guidelines Respond to at least one other learner.
Make your responses to other learners substantive, referencing the assigned readings and other theoretical, empirical, or professional literature to support your views.