Compare methods

	Strengths Assessment	Ecomap Analysis	Genogram Analysis	Goal Attainment Scaling
Field	Social Work	Social Work	Social Work	Social Work
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	2012	1978	2008	1968
Originator	Dennis Saleebey (strengths perspective); Charles Rapp & Richard Goscha (strengths model assessment)	Ann Hartman	Monica McGoldrick & Randy Gerson (standardized notation); Murray Bowen (theoretical roots)	Thomas J. Kiresuk & Robert E. Sherman
Type	Structured, domain-based assessment of client and environmental strengths	Graphical, qualitative person-in-environment assessment tool	Graphical, qualitative family-assessment tool	Individualized, criterion-referenced outcome measurement procedure
Seminal source	Saleebey, D. (Ed.). (2013). The Strengths Perspective in Social Work Practice (6th ed.). Pearson. ISBN: 9780205011544	Hartman, A. (1978). Diagrammatic assessment of family relationships. Social Casework, 59(8), 465–476.	McGoldrick, M., Gerson, R., & Petry, S. (2008). Genograms: Assessment and Intervention (3rd ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN: 9780393705096	Kiresuk, T. J., & Sherman, R. E. (1968). Goal attainment scaling: A general method for evaluating comprehensive community mental health programs. Community Mental Health Journal, 4(6), 443–453.
Aliases	Strengths-Based Assessment, Strengths Perspective Assessment, Strengths Model Assessment, Asset-Based Assessment	Ecomap, Eco-Map, Ecological Map, Hartman Ecomap	Genogram, Family Genogram, Family Diagram, McGoldrick Genogram	GAS, Goal Attainment Scale, Kiresuk-Sherman Goal Attainment Scaling, Individualized Goal Scaling
Related	3	3	3	3
Summary	Strengths assessment is a structured way of assessing a client that deliberately foregrounds capabilities, resources, and aspirations rather than deficits and problems. Grounded in the strengths perspective articulated by Dennis Saleebey and operationalized in Charles Rapp and Richard Goscha's strengths model, it surveys the client's life domains — such as daily living, health, finances, relationships, leisure, and spirituality — to record what is already working, what the person wants, and the personal and environmental resources available to get there. Those strengths then become the raw material for goal-setting and intervention.	An ecomap is a graphical map of a household or individual set within their social environment, showing the connections between the focal system and the external systems around it — extended family, work, school, health care, friends, agencies, religion, and recreation — and coding each connection as strong, tenuous, or stressful, with arrows for the flow of energy and resources. Ecomap analysis is the practice of drawing and interpreting this map to assess the person-in-environment, the central organizing concept of social work. It was introduced by Ann Hartman in 1978.	A genogram is a graphical map of a family across at least three generations that uses standardized symbols to record its structure, key biographical and medical events, and the quality of relationships among members. Genogram analysis is the practice of constructing such a map with a client and then interpreting it to reveal intergenerational patterns — of illness, relationships, roles, conflict, and resilience — that shape the presenting situation. Standardized by Monica McGoldrick and Randy Gerson and grounded in Bowen family-systems theory, it is a staple qualitative assessment tool in social work and family therapy.	Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) is a method for measuring the outcomes of an individualized intervention by writing, in advance, a small set of client-specific goals and defining for each a graded scale of possible outcomes from much worse than expected to much better than expected. After the intervention, the actual outcome on each goal is scored on this scale and the scores are combined into a single standardized index, allowing idiosyncratic, personally meaningful goals to be aggregated and compared across clients and programs. It was introduced by Thomas Kiresuk and Robert Sherman in 1968 to evaluate community mental health programs.