ABSTRACT Despite the growing body of literature on community well‐being, limited studies have explored how social service professionals conceptualise community dimensions in archipelagic or island territories, where territorial inequalities and access barriers pose unique challenges. This study explores how professionals from the Public Social Services System in Gran Canaria perceive the community dimensions that shape social well‐being. Using an exploratory qualitative approach, four focus groups were conducted with 22 professionals in social work, psychology and social education. Grounded theory analysis identified ‘Community’ as the central dimension, organised into three categories: participation, resources, infrastructures and services. Professionals emphasise that community participation is vital for social cohesion and empowerment yet note that institutional and political control often limits genuine citizen engagement. They also highlight the importance of community resources and interagency coordination as essential elements for effective and equitable interventions. However, they point to significant shortages in staffing, housing, mental health services and specialised resources, worsened by territorial inequalities. Infrastructure shows marked disparities between rural and urban areas, affecting opportunities for integration and well‐being. This study contributes to the community well‐being literature by identifying how institutional control shapes community participation and resource access in an island context, offering a framework that bridges community psychology and social policy to guide interventions in similarly constrained territorial settings.
García et al. (Sun,) studied this question.