As societies age, the development of resources and strategies that foster healthy ageing from the beginning of life become
increasingly important. Social and healthcare professionals are key agents in this process; therefore, their training needs
to be in agreement with societal needs. We performed a scoping review on professional competences for social and health
workers to adequately promote healthy ageing throughout life, using the framework described by Arksey and O’Malley
and the Joanna Briggs Institute Guidelines. A stakeholder consultation was held in each of the participating countries, in
which 79 experts took part. Results show that current literature has been excessively focused on the older age and that more
attention on how to work with younger population groups is needed. Likewise, not all disciplines have equally reflected
on their role before this challenge and interprofessional approaches, despite showing promise, have not been sufficiently
described. Based on our results, health and social professionals working to promote healthy ageing across the lifespan will
need sound competences regarding person-centred communication, professional communication, technology applications,
physiological and pathophysiological aspects of ageing, social and environmental aspects, cultural diversity, programs and
policies, ethics, general and basic skills, context and self-management-related skills, health promotion and disease prevention
skills, educational and research skills, leadership skills, technological skills and clinical reasoning. Further research should
contribute to establishing which competences are more relevant to each discipline and at what level they should be taught,
as well as how they can be best implemented to effectively transform health and social care systems.
