Objective

To describe the professional training health professionals receive in community health engagement in Spain.

Method

The identification and descriptive analysis of trainings developed between 2013-2018 offered by public universities, public administrations and the teaching units for the specialization of family and community health doctors and nurses.

Results

Twenty eight trainings were included in the descriptive analysis. Most of them had been organized during 2018 in eight Autonomous Communities. Two of them were organized at a national level. Most trainings were attendance based and have been developed by teaching units in charge of training doctors and nurses specializing in family and community health, with an average duration of 10-25hours and no enrolment costs.

Conclusion

There is a lack of training in community health engagement in the majority of autonomous communities in Spain which shows that it is scarce and not yet fully integrated in the training of health professionals. The trainings that have been analyzed are mainly part of wider specialization programs for doctors and nurses specializing in family and community health, and even so this training is not standardized and included in the specialization programs of all the Spanish regions. To develop a comprehensive health approach it is key to include community health engagement as part of the trainings professionals receive during their University degree, and to extend it to other health professions. The institutions responsible for the training of health professionals should include community health engagement as part of the different training itineraries of professionals.

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