Objectives

. In the context of COVID-19, they made it possible to know, understand and interpret the foundations, meanings and experiences of first level health care personnel.

Method

. Biographical-narrative research was employed, using interviews, content analysis and triangulation as techniques. The instruments used were the documentary record card, the battery of questions and the analysis matrices of deductive categories.

Results

. For the presentation of the results and their subsequent discussion, figures such as word clouds, summary tables and semantic networks designed with the support of the ATLAS.ti program were used; multiple comments expressed by the interviewees were also cited; and they were triangulated based on the sources, theories and methods consulted in high-impact academic databases.

Conclusion

. In the end, it was concluded that beyond the essential theoretical-methodological foundation that requires constant updating, it is necessary to value the human being invisible behind a professional and labor profile; twelve socio-cultural meanings constructed by the health personnel were also found: apathy, disorientation, distancing, immutability, integrality, fear, pandemic, improvement, religiosity, resignation, health and teamwork. Eight words were found to generate the experiences narrated: catharsis, family, humanity, uncertainty, virtuality, vulnerability, spirituality and existential conflict.