ObjectiveSpanish primary healthcare teams have the responsibility of performing health-promoting community activities (CAs), although such activities are not widespread. Our aim was to identify the factors related to participation in those activities.DesignTwo case–control studies.SettingPerformed in primary care of five Spanish regions.SubjectsIn the first study, cases were teams that performed health-promoting CAs and controls were those that did not. In the second study (on case teams from the first study), cases were professionals who developed these activities and controls were those who did not.Main outcome measuresTeam, professional and community characteristics collected through questionnaires (team managers/professionals) and from secondary sources.ResultsThe first study examined 203 teams (103 cases, 100 controls). Adjusted factors associated with performing CAs were percentage of nurses (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.14), community socioeconomic status (higher vs lower OR 2.16, 95% CI 1.18 to 3.95) and performing undergraduate training (OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.93). In the second study, 597 professionals responded (254 cases, 343 controls). Adjusted factors were professional classification (physicians do fewer activities than nurses and social workers do more), training in CAs (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2 to 3.1), team support (OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.5 to 5.7), seniority (OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.09), nursing tutor (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.5), motivation (OR 3.7, 95% CI 1.8 to 7.5), collaboration with non-governmental organisations (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2 to 3.1) and participation in neighbourhood activities (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.9 to 5.1).ConclusionsProfessional personal characteristics, such as social sensitivity, profession, to feel team support or motivation, have influence in performing health-promoting CAs. In contrast to the opinion expressed by many professionals, workload is not related to performance of health-promoting CAs.

Family and community medicine is an academic subject, a medical specialty and a health profession with distinct dimensions: healthcare, teaching, research and management. In this discipline, the object of knowledge is the person, understood as a whole. Family medicine, as an academic subject, and primary care, as a health education setting, should be incorporated into the core graduate and postgraduate curricula. The absence of these elements leads to training bias and has major repercussions on quality, coordination and patient safety. The development of the Health Professions Act and the construction of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) have created a favorable climate for the presence of this discipline in the university. Since the 1960s, family medicine has been consolidated as an academic subject with its own departments in almost all European universities, and a significant number of family physicians are teachers. A balance has been achieved between the hospital-based system (based on theory, disease, and the biological model) and the patient-centred model (based on problem solving, community-oriented and the bio-psycho-social model). The introduction of family and community medicine as a specific subject, and as a transverse subject and as an option in practicals, represents the adaptation of the educational system to social needs. This adaptation also represents a convergence with other European countries and the various legal requirements protecting this convergence. However, this new situation requires a new structure (departments) and faculty (professors and associate and assistant professors).

IntroductionAccording to Spanish health regulations, primary care professionals have the responsibility to carry out health-promoting community activities (CAs). However, in practice, their implementation is not as widespread as it should be. The aims of this study were to identify factors within the team, the community and the professionals that influence the development of these activities and to describe the community interventions in progress.Methods and analysisThis study is an observational analytical retrospective study. The information will be collected from five Spanish regions: Catalonia, Madrid, the Balearic Islands, Navarra and Aragón. The authors will contact primary care teams (PCTs) and identify the CAs from the previous year. The research team will conduct a peer review whether the inclusion criteria are met. In the health centres where CAs are implemented, the authors will select professionals carrying them out and randomly select an identical number of professionals not doing these activities. In the centres where no CA is implemented, three professionals will be randomly selected. The selected professionals will complete the questionnaires for individual-level variables. Information about the registered population and the PCTs will be collected through questionnaires and secondary sources.OutcomesVariables will be collected from the community, the PCTs, the individual professionals and CAs.AnalysisA descriptive analysis of all the variables will be carried out, along with a bivariate and a logistic regression analysis, with CAs being the primary outcome.Ethics and disseminationThis study has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Jordi Gol y Gurina Foundation in Barcelona and area 11 in Madrid. The questionnaire distributed to the professionals will be anonymous.

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