• Diego G Mosteiro-Miguéns, Maruxa Zapata-Cachafeiro, Silvia Novío, Natalia Vieito-Pérez, Tania Alfonso-González, and Almudena Rodríguez-Fernández.
• Department of Psychiatry, Radiology, Public Health, Nursing and Medicine, University of Santiago de Compostela, C/ San Francisco, s/n, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
• Fam Pract. 2024 Oct 23.

BackgroundPromoting health via a community approach is one of the most effective strategies for reducing the current incidence of chronic diseases. Primary care (PC), through the implementation of community activities (CA), has the potential to achieve this goal. Yet the implementation of CA at health centers is not standardized and is often thanks only to the voluntariness of health professionals.ObjectiveTo ascertain the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of PC professionals regarding the implementation of CA.MethodsWe carried out a cross-sectional study by circulating a self-administered online questionnaire on CA, across the period December 2022 through June 2023 in Galicia (Spain). All health professionals working in the Galician Health Service PC setting were invited to participate.ResultsA total of 521 health professionals participated in the study. They included all types of PC health professionals (physicians, general and specialist nurses -midwives, pediatrics, family and community, mental health- and social workers), including residents in training. Only 14.8% and 12.5% of professionals correctly identified CAs and social prescription (SPr) interventions, respectively. Furthermore, 93.9% recognized that the development of CA in health centers was deficient. Despite this, 76.5% showed a good attitude toward participation in CA.ConclusionsPC professionals find it difficult to identify CA and SPr interventions. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the training of these professionals in the implementation of CA with a view to enhancing population health, reducing the incidence of chronic diseases, and helping lessen the healthcare burden of the health system.© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press.

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