The Colored, Eco‐Genetic Relationship Map (CEGRM): A Conceptual Approach and Tool for Genetic Counseling Research

Abstract

The Colored Ecological and Genetic Relational Map (CEGRM) [pronounced see‐gram] is a conceptual approach and tool for presenting information about family and nonkin relationships and stories about inherited diseases in a simple, understandable form. It combines information that can be derived from pedigrees, genograms, ecomaps, and social network analysis in a single, or series of, pictorial maps based on colors and shapes. The CEGRM is based on a social systems perspective, particularly emphasizing social exchange and resource theories. The CEGRM should be particularly useful in genetic counseling research with members of suspected cancer‐risk families or families with other late‐onset inherited diseases. A genetic counseling client comes with a social history and context as well as a genetic one. Client decision‐making in terms of reproductive plans, therapeutic intervention, lifestyle behavior and sharing or withholding of genetic information frequently becomes enmeshed with preexisting psycho‐social relationships among biological kin, affinal kin (in‐laws) and fictive kin (friends who act as family). The CEGRM makes it easier to compare different types of social interactions between the client and his/her significant others and among family members on the same dimensions.