genogram – user guide · a genogram is a map of the family structure, similar to a family tree....

LCS User Manual

Social Care & Education Systems Support Team 1 V5 Oct 17

Genogram – User Guide

Contents Genogram – User Guide ............................................................................................ 1

Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1

Creating a genogram .............................................................................................. 2

Show Relationships ............................................................................................. 4

View in Core System ........................................................................................... 4

View all Genograms for Person ........................................................................... 4

Remove from Genogram ..................................................................................... 4

Add a person ....................................................................................................... 4

Saving and/or Completing the Genogram. .............................................................. 5

Changing Age to Date of Birth ................................................................................ 6

Updating the age of a person which has changed since the genogram was created. ................................................................................................................... 7

Showing deceased people with unknown date of death ......................................... 8

Copying the Genogram to sibling records ............................................................... 9

Printing the genogram. .......................................................................................... 11

Troubleshooting .................................................................................................... 13

Why are there missing relationship lines? ......................................................... 13

I cannot see comments and header ................................................................... 13

The person has had a birthday since I created the Genogram, their age has not updated. ............................................................................................................. 13

Introduction A genogram is a map of the family structure, similar to a family tree. LCS creates this based on the relationships you have entered between family members. Before creating a genogram, think about which family members you will want to include such as carers and siblings, Grandparents, Cousins, Parents’ previous partners. For each of these, go into their Relationships tab and check that all relationships are correct, not just the relationships to the child. This will make building your genogram a much smoother process.

Date Modified Author Version Page 06 Oct 2017 CW 5 2

Creating a genogram

1) Click the two people icon:

2) Then click the button.

3) An outline genogram has been created. Key to main symbols:

• Blue star – the child(ren) the genogram is for.

• Square – male

• Circle – female

• Grey hexagon with a ? – unknown gender

• Curved triangle – unborn

• Grey cross through curved triangle – miscarriage

• Grey cross and strike through curved triangle – abortion

• Grey cross through curved triangle – indeterminate

• Black cross through any shape – deceased

• Single cross through red line – former relation (e.g. ex-partner)

• Double cross through red line – former husband or wife

• Black lines show relationships

• Green lines show carer relationships

4) Follow step 5 and 6 below to add more people and information to your genogram. As you build up the genogram you can move people and labels to a new location by using the drag and drop function. Access this by hovering the mouse over the relevant box and using left click. To see a print view of the genogram select page sizes.

To remove the grid select Grid. To move the whole genogram or part of it to a new location on the page left click in


the white space to the top left corner of the relevant section. Hold the left button down while dragging the bottom right corner of the red box to the bottom right corner of the relevant section. Release the button, hover over the grey box and drag the genogram to its new location using the left button.

TIP Ensure you place people in generational order with the oldest generation at the top and the youngest at the bottom. If you place them out of order you will have lines going to blank spaces. 5) To build up your genogram with information right click on the child to add more

information. Repeat the process for all relatives as required

Properties –You can use this option to change information in the genogram. See the sections below for more information about using the Date of Birth, Date of Death and Linking(copying) person fields. NB the changes made in the genogram will not be made to the demographics record.

Click ‘Update Person’ to save the changes.


Show Relationships - click on this to bring up a list of related people, with a blue (show) link next to any not currently on the genogram:

Tip You can add new relations to the genogram via the relationships table. After updating in Relationships return to your genogram and click ‘check’ (circled below). This will update the genogram and show any changes you made.

View in Core System – click here to see the person’s demographics screen. View all Genograms for Person – takes you to all saved genograms for the person. Remove from Genogram – will remove the person from the genogram. To re-add the person use Add a Person (Search) as detailed in step 6 below.

6) Move the cursor to the gridded area. Make sure the screen size is set at 100%. Right click to select these options

Add a heading showing the child/family name of the genogram and the date of creation. This makes the date relevant to the ages of each person. Add comments as relevant Add a person allows you to search for and add other people in the LCS system.


NB if the heading and comments are not displayed, use ctrl + 0 (zero not letter) to reset the screen size to 100% Tip Use the Save button to regularly save your genogram. You will still be able to edit it. Other people cannot edit genograms you create.

Saving and/or Completing the Genogram. Once you are happy with your genogram, you can save it for later editing, or complete it using the links at the top of the page. “Completing” a genogram finalises it so that it cannot be edited. Select Save so that you can edit the genogram at a future date, useful if you have made lots of manual changes. Select Complete to finalise it. Completed genograms can still be viewed, but they will be listed with a note of when they were completed (finalised) and by whom. They cannot be changed therefore using Save instead of Complete will allow you to make later changes.


Changing Age to Date of Birth

1 This is done via Properties. To do this right click on the person for whom you are changing the age text.

2 Type the date of birth into the Age Text field. Click Update Person.

3 The date of birth is now displayed.


Updating the age of a person which has changed since the genogram was created.

If you have Saved the Genogram for later editing the age of those people who have had a birthday since you created the Genogram will be incorrect. To correct the age do the following

1 In the Genogram right click the person to open the Properties box. Select remove the person from the Genogram.

2 In the Genogram right click a relative to open the Properties box. From here

Select ‘Show Relationships’.

3 . Select the person in the list and click ‘Show, to add them to the Genogram.

4 The age is now correctly displayed.


Showing deceased people with unknown date of death 1 This is done via Properties. To do this right click on the person. Enter a date of death, this does not have to be accurate because it does not copy back into demographics. Click update.

2 A black cross is displayed to show this person is deceased.


Copying the Genogram to sibling records 1 This is done via Properties. To do this right click on the child you wish to copy the genogram to.

2 Tick the link Person to Genogram box and click Update Person

3 A blue star will be displayed against the person’s name.


4 Repeat for each child so that you have a blue star against all the children you wish to copy the genogram to.

5 Click Save As.

6 Save the genogram with a new name which reflects who is covered by the genogram.

7 When you open the record of other people who have a blue star you will see the genogram has copied to their record.


Printing the genogram. The PDF function can be used; however the final print will look better if you copy it into a word doc first using the Print Screen function or Snipping Tool. Don’t forget to remove the grid before taking a screenshot.

To use the Snipping Tool select Snipping Tool in the Windows Accessories menu.

Click on New and select Rectangular snip. Using the left mouse button drag the cursor around the outside of the genogram to take a copy of it.


Paste the copy of the genogram into a Word Document which may be PDFed and attached to documents for future use.


Troubleshooting Why are there missing relationship lines? LCS uses the relationship table to populate the genogram. All relationships must be correct in order for the lines to be displayed. For example; a child will not be linked to a grandparent if the grandparent has not been linked to the child’s parents and child in the relationships tab. After updating the relationships table use the Check button in the genogram to add missing lines. TIP If the relationships are correct try moving people in the genogram, everyone must be placed in generation order with the first generation at the top of the page e.g. a child above a parent will result in line from the parent to a blank space.

I cannot see comments and header. If the heading and comments are not displayed, use ctrl + 0 (zero not letter) to reset the screen size to 100%. You should now be able to see the comments and header.

The person has had a birthday since I created the Genogram, their age has not updated. You will need to remove the person and re-add them so that the correct age is displayed. See the section ‘Updating the age of a person which has changed since the genogram was created’

genogram – user guide · a genogram is a map of the family structure, similar to a family tree....

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