Abstract
This article discusses the work of community health agents (ACS) focusing on the ethical problems in their daily work and care, the space of care and the disciplinary guidelines in their activities. In the scenario of changing care model, ACS have increasingly been considered differentiated workers as they belong to the community and to the health institution. These characteristics can bring a differential and potential for the production of unique therapeutic projects at the same time, which point to the existence of conflicts in the worker-user relationship and to the exercise of power and new forms of control in the primary care setting. Work and community spaces do not find precise limits. The ACS narratives show their viewpoint about users, the weaknesses in their formation, still based on actions that make them the sanitary police. There is professional hierarchy in the health team, the interviewees' statements showed the idea they have about the bond with users, which shows the feeling of solidarity and compassion, corroborating with the proposal of the ethics of caring based on responsibility for the human connection. Being from the community interferes with one’s privacy and excessive intervention in people's lives, reproducing biopower attitudes in the control of bodies.
Keywords:
Primary Health Care; community health agents; bioethics; caring ethics; disciplinary powers