Community participation and empowerment in primary health care in Latin America: an exploratory systematic review

Objective. To search the literature for evidence on community participation and empowerment practices in primary health care in Latin America. Methods. Scoping review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist. The review was conducted in March 2024. The Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS), and MEDLINE (via PubMed) databases were searched. The results obtained across all databases were exported to the Mendeley (R) platform and presented descriptively. Results. Thirteen studies, conducted in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, were selected. Community participation and empowerment practices were identified in two main settings: institutional and social. In the institutional setting, the importance of training health care professionals and establishing educational groups for the overall population was emphasized. In the social setting, the importance of home visits and community activities was emphasized. Conclusions. Institutional practices for community participation and empowerment have great potential to improve population health and well-being. However, challenges such as a lack of resources, staff training, and community engagement must be addressed. A comprehensive approach that combines actions at the institutional, community, and individual levels is needed to achieve a sustainable impact on community empowerment.