Eco-Mapping Considerations for Informing Integrated Systems and Services

Eco-mapping considerations for strengthening integrated systems and health services are essential in designing and implementing efficient and effective health systems and services. This may require health services to understand and have the ability to intervene at an individual and/or community level to address people's complex health and social issues. This is imperative in meeting people’s multidimensional needs, which underlies the gap between health and social care services. Integrated care as an organizing principle for care delivery seeks to improve patient outcomes and care experience through flexible, personalized, and seamless local health and social care provision. Exploring how community members (e.g., patients) use environmental, social and personal resources could provide insights into how support systems can be reorganized—and better integrated—around the needs of service users. One asset-based strategy is eco-mapping. Eco-mapping is a tool that originated in child welfare practices and has been adopted widely by clinicians and researchers. The resulting maps are graphic illustrations of individuals or family units shown in the center of a circle. Outer circles within concentric circles formed around the center represent the sources of connection to that person or family, reflecting fewer intimate relationships moving outward. Lines joining the outer circles to the central circle are denoted in specific ways to represent the nature of the relationships. For example, a solid or thick line represents a critical or strong connection, a dotted line means a tenuous connection and a jagged line could signify a conflicted connection. Lines with arrows indicate the direction of resources, energy or interests. With the diagram's representation of familial and environmental relationships, it’s possible to evaluate the range of, or lack of, support and assistance available to people, families and communities. A scoping literature review informs this presentation to understand where and how eco-maps have been used in health services research. We will apply these results to the concept of integrated care, sharing the results, including consideration of the eco-mapping tool for strengthening integrated systems and services by identifying gaps in service integration and developing an actionable roadmap. As a planning tool, eco-mapping is a promising strategy for supporting community and stakeholder engagement.