Design of a Protocol for Detecting Victims of Aporophobia—Violence against the Poor

Abstract

Aporophobia or aversion to the poor is a discriminatory phenomenon that causes a serious problem to the person with consequences related to damage, injury and physical and/or psychological sequelae. This paper describes the creation of the first aporophobia risk assessment tool, developed through a bibliometric review and expert opinion. This article presents the results obtained in the first phase of the design of this instrument for the detection of victimisation suffered by people in extreme poverty or at risk of poverty due to discrimination or aversion. Initially, a bibliometric review was carried out to identify the risk factors present in aporophobic situations and victimisations related to discrimination or rejection of people living in poverty. For the development of this aporophobic victimisation detection tool, the methodology of structured judgment by means of a panel of experts was used. After identifying the risk factors present in aporophobic victimisation, the panel of experts was formed with the participation of 26 academic professionals and those who work with these people in situations of social exclusion. Using expert methodology and the Delphi technique, they identified the most appropriate variables for inclusion in the detection instrument currently being designed, distinguishing between individual, social and relational factors and, finally, the most influential environmental factors for being victims of aporophobia. The results of the panel of experts highlight some of the following variables, for example, substance use and/or possible undiagnosed mental illness related to individual dimensions, in the case of variables related to one’s social level, among others, a lack of community ties and/or social participation and, finally, among the variables within a context called victim opportunity, the routine of staying overnight on the street or in enclosed spaces at street level by homeless people is highlighted. The experts who made up the panel highlighted the usefulness of this type of instrument for the professionals who attend to these people with different resources; the first version of this instrument is a protocol that evaluates all possible areas of the people of interest in order to detect these invisible situations.