Abstract
Objective: To train Community Health Agents (SCA) to apply the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Methods: Cohort, prospective, longitudinal and quantitative study. Twelve ACS participated, responsible for covering the assigned area of the Family Health Unit (USF). Registered SCAs who agreed to participate in the research were considered eligible for the research. Results: Only 16.60% of the SCA had knowledge about the GDS before the presentation and after explanation, all demonstrated knowledge. Before the training, 8.30% of the SCA demonstrated to know the ways of presenting it, however, after, 100% claimed to have mastery over the ways of presenting the scale. Regarding the content, none of the SCA demonstrated to know what they were and, after training, 75% of the respondents said they had knowledge about the questions in question, while 25% said they still lack mastery. Regarding the application of the GDS, none of the SCA had knowledge and after the explanation, 91.70% demonstrated mastery of the application and 8.30% were still unsafe in this regard. Conclusion: It is valid to use methods that enable SCAs to act as a link between health and the community. Rapid assessment strategies, such as the GDS, allow examining a large portion of the target population, facilitating referral to existing medical services.