Author: Robin Ray

Setting up the project
This project was designed to examine the experiences and support mechanisms of informal caregivers of people living with motor neurone disease. In applying the methodology of ethnographic case study, I chose to use semi-structured and conversational interviews in participants' homes and field notes, collected at three time points over ten months. However, I also needed a method that would capture the social support systems over time. Drawing on previous experience in family nursing, I decided to use drawings in the form of ecomaps to facilitate discussion concerning sources of support. However, I was not sure how ecomapping would translate into the research arena given the environmental constraints of private homes, the burden already created by "invading personal space" during the audio taping of semi-structured and conversational interviews, and the need to teach caregivers the ecomapping process. Trialling the process during a small pilot study enabled me to work out strategies for microphone placement and props to enable me to share the developing ecomap with the caregiver throughout each interview. All that remained was for me to successfully recruit caregivers of people living with MND, to the study. [More...]

The data
Ecomapping, as first described by Hartman (1995), was a useful data collection tool that enabled us to gain detailed information concerning size, structure and function of social networks (Ray & Street, 2005a). Naming network participants and encircling each to form a pattern that surrounds the interviewee is the first step. Through further discussion, relationship lines that depict the strength and/or tension in the relationship between each interviewee and network participant are constructed. The following diagram shows the diversity of relationships that can be captured in an ecomap.

Constructing ecomaps in the context of an interview enables data to be collected that might have been missed if questioning was the only interview trigger. In the example ecomap, further information about support from immediate family members may arise from just noting that the only child mentioned, a daughter, is separated from the caregiving context by distance (living interstate). During the process, interviewees usually volunteer detailed information about type of relationship and some of the boundaries around that relationship, without the need for detailed questioning. Thus, collecting interview data and ecomap data together enables the researcher to gather the story through the two media that correlate well, without creating additional researcher burden. [More...]

Working with data
At the completion of each interview, ecomaps were coded and photocopied. Data concerning the numbers of relationship lines and the sources of support were tabulated ready for comparison with the next ecomap and across the cases. Visual analysis of the ecomaps together with themes arising from the descriptive analysis of the interview data informed cue questions used in the next interview. During subsequent interviews, the photocopied ecomap was used as a stimulus for conversation, and interviewees were encouraged to draw in any changes in the social network that had occurred over the intervening months. The contrast between the grey colour of the photocopy and pen used to draw in the new information was a further stimulus to more detailed discussion. Descriptors and detail about relationships that was not drawn on the ecomaps, was captured by the interview data. [More...]

Analysis processes
The resulting ecomap together with the interview data provide insight into the strengths and weaknesses of possible avenues of social support in each social network. Data from ecomaps can be analysed in several ways. Firstly, visual comparisons of ecomaps enable the interviewee and the researcher to see the patterns of social engagement. Secondly, data can be collated in tables and graphed to show the size and composition of a network such as community, family or professional interactions (Ray & Street, 2005b). Qualitative interview data were linked with ecomaps and field notes within a software data management package. The first two levels of analysis from grounded theory were used to organise the data and provide a systematic framework for data analysis. Ecomaps, interview data and field notes were analysed thematically and conceptually ordered drawing on theoretical concepts of social capital and the writings of Anthony Giddens. Critical analysis and application of these theories enabled me to interpret the socially constructed aspects of the data. Changing patterns of social support were visually evident in the ecomaps, while the detail about the usefulness of each relationship to the caregiving dyad was captured in the interview data and the field notes. Data analysis between interviews identified emerging realities as caregiving needs progressed. This process also enabled realities in one case to be check across other cases in subsequent interviews increasing the credibility of the data. [More...]

Reporting the project
Initially, reporting the data was a challenge. I had three ecomaps from fourteen cases, and two ecomaps from three cases (four participants did not complete the study). Drawing from the tools of analysis, data from ecomaps has been reported in table format, graphs and discussion supported by examples of ecomaps. Data has also been discussed at national and international conferences, used by the MND Association for staff development and applied in nursing education. When used over time, ecomaps display the stability or evolving and dynamic nature of social networks enabling health and social care professionals to gain a clear picture of resource deficits experienced by family caregivers. [More...]

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