Development of a Risk Assessment Tool for Social Services Using a Modified Delphi Technique

Abstract

The pandemic caused by covid-19 has revealed an enormous vulnerability in health, economic and social terms. We are facing a new unprecedented environmental and socioeconomic reality, which poses a challenge for risk control and management. This forces a methodological effort to be made in all areas in the creation of models for the prevention and prediction of existing impacts, risks, and potential threats. In Social Services’ field, we propose a tool that will allow, on the one hand, to measure the impact of COVID-19 on the Social Services system and, on the other hand, to evaluate the areas with the highest socioeconomic risk in the post-COVID scenario. The modified Delphi technique has been used to reach a consensus on a proposal of 37 indicators with a group of experts, which in the final phase resulted in 34. To our knowledge, this represents the first risk assessment tool in social services designed specifically for use at local level. The proposed tool can help determine the situation of municipal social services in relation to risk, assessing weaknesses and improving the capacity of the system.