[Community activities carried out in Primary Care in Galicia between 2018 and 2022: A descriptive study].

OBJECTIVE

To analyse the implementation and identify and describe the community activities (CA) developed during 2018-2022, in the Primary Health Care (PHC) of the health area of Santiago de Compostela y Barbanza. In addition, the barriers and facilitators for its development will be determined.

DESIGN

Observational, cross-sectional study.

SETTING

The study was conducted in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, covering the 74 health centres in the health area, which are part of the public network of the Spanish health system.

PARTICIPANTS

All nursing coordinators were invited to participate, as well as heads of service and those PHC professionals with greater knowledge of the CA developed.

MAIN MEASUREMENTS

A hetero-administered questionnaire on the characteristics, barriers and facilitators of CA was completed by means of a telephone interview.

RESULTS

A total of 95 CA were identified. Most were one-time activities (72.6%), single-session (67.4%), with passive participation of the attendees (100%) and little cross-sectoral collaboration (9.5%). 76.8% of the CA were not evaluated and arose on the initiative of PHC professionals. The flexibility of PHC professionals' agendas was identified as a key factor in achieving the implementation of CA in PHC.

CONCLUSIONS

In order to achieve an effective implementation of CA, greater institutional involvement is crucial to facilitate the flexibility of PHC agendas, the evaluation of CA, the incorporation of professionals with specific training in community care, as well as greater collaboration with community agents.