[How can employers support home care nurses’ continuing education and nursing professional development at workplace? Results of a Canadian qualitative survey.]

INTRODUCTION: this article provides a new knowledge on employer's support for home care nurses' continuing education.

CONTEXT: so far, literature has sustained that providing support to nurses in continuing education is mainly a matter of money. However, only few researchers have been interested in home care, especially in continuing education.

OBJECTIVE: one of the objectives of the survey was to identify factors that could influence nurses' commitment, participation and choice in the matter of continuing education activities.

METHODS: a qualitative survey was conducted with eight nurses, coming from one clinical home care setting (Québec, Canada), who participated in a semi-structured individual interview. Thematic analysis was used. Results were validated by intra- and inter-rater controls. Furthermore, participants were involved in the process of validation. Results have shown that support given by the employer in the matter of continuing education can be seen into five different aspects : financial, training, affective, instrumental and normative. Despite a lack of financial and training support, most of home care nurses have a positive perception of their employer's support.

DISCUSSION: nevertheless, employers should pay more attention to nurses' needs. To do so, nurses should be involved into the process of continuing education at their workplace.