Social participation and Primary Health Care in Brazil: a scoping review

Abstract

Abstract This article aimed to carry out a scoping review of the literature to understand the formal experiences of social participation that have been developed in the context of the Brazilian Primary Health Care (PHC), since the creation of the Brazilian National Health System (SUS) until November 2020. The databases LILACS, PubMed, PsycINFO, and Sociological Abstracts were searched, and 20 articles were included that described the social participation in the context of PHC. The results found were discussed regarding the profile of the participants and the competence to participate, the process of participation and the building of participatory actions, and the centrality of permanent education as a way to strengthen social participation in health. The research revealed distinct experiences of social participation developed in the territories where the PHC operates, highlighting the difficulties faced in the process of implementing the Local Health Councils (LHC). Thus, it is understood that strengthening the PHC, especially the Family Health Strategy (FHS) model, involves, in a dialectical way, the construction and the qualification of participatory spaces, which would result in a central strategy to defend the SUS at this time of resurgence of democratic relations in Brazil.