[The affection of the community healthcare agent in the territory: a study with affective maps]

The community healthcare agent is an essential professional in the context of primary healthcare, helping to monitor the health of families in the territory. The scope of this study was to analyze the implications of affection on the performance of the community healthcare agent in the territory. The theoretical notions of this study are based on social psychology of a historical-cultural basis and environmental psychology. The survey was conducted with ten community healthcare agents at a basic health unit in a municipality of the State of Ceará. It is qualitative research, the data collection for which was carried out by applying the qualitative part of the Affective Map Generator Tool (IGMA). The data were analyzed using category content analysis and subtext, significance and motive analysis. The results revealed that the possibility of meeting each other and the bond built with families becomes a motivating force for the action of the community healthcare agents, giving rise to a positive engagement with the territory, despite the difficult context. We trust that this research will contribute to define new perspectives for the role of the community healthcare agent in the context of primary healthcare policy.