[Social participation in primary health care: Tensions and contradictions].

Objective: To explore the perspectives of the decision makers and community members in primary health care (PHC) around the conceptualization of social participation (PS).

Design: An exploratory cross-sectional study with qualitative methodology.

Location: Health Centers of the Metropolitan Region (RM), Santiago, Chile.

Participants: Eight informants from the management level (group 1), 13 from execution level in PHC (group 2), 28 community members and four community agents of health (group 3).

Method: Interviews and discussion groups were conducted, which were recorded and transcribed. The organization and analysis of the data was done with Atlas.ti 8.1. The narratives were systematized using a thematic analysis. All the documents were codified, and we hold periodic meetings to review the existing codes, as well as discussing the inclusion of new codes.

Results: Group 1 refers to a more theoretical conception of PS. Group 2 expresses more concrete and operative dimensions. Group 3 indicates that PS is embodied in particular personal experiences. Groups 1 and 3 have more than one notion of social participation in health.

Conclusions: An institutional conception of participation prevails transversally, rooted since the 1990s. At the community level, the narratives take the form of collective practices lived around the improvement of the quality of community life mediated by the level of execution.