This study aimed to identify the representations developed by community health agents (CHA) about their care practices. We used the qualitative research methodology, taking semistructured interviews for collecting data; for data interpretation, we adopted the thematic analysis. Twelve CHA of the Community Agents Program (PACS) from a hinterland town in São Paulo State. The material obtained presented two themes: the bond as working tool and practice based on health promotion and disease prevention. The reports show the importance of the bond in daily practice, emphasizing the humanitarian principles that underlie the actions of solidarity, highlight the feeling of gratification when the work performed is recognized by families and reveal that the interviewed ones have trouble in discerning the scope of its limits. Although these professionals have a good technical support for the fulfillment of their actions, they also show the need for professional instrumentation. We conclude that the guidelines and standards set for the PACS function as guidelines for the health care process, but do not respond to more subjective issues found in the care of individual-family-community. Moreover, the CHA seem to be vulnerable to fluctuations in the municipal, state and federal administration, have inconsistent ideology in playing their own role and cannot reverse the health care model guided by disease and individual medical intervention.
community health agents; bond; humanization