title: Factors influencing home care nurse intention to remain employed.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify factors affecting Canadian home care nurse intention to remain employed (ITR).
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  In developed nations, healthcare continues to shift into community settings. Although considerable research exists on examining nurse ITR in hospitals, similar research related to nurses employed in home care is limited. In the face of a global nursing shortage, it is important to understand the factors influencing nurse ITR across healthcare sectors.
  
  
  METHODS
  A qualitative exploratory descriptive design was used. Focus groups were conducted with home care nurses. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six categories of influencing factors were identified by home care nurses as affecting ITR: job characteristics; work structures; relationships/communication; work environment; nurse responses to work; and employment conditions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings suggest the following factors influence home care nurse ITR: having autonomy; flexible scheduling; reasonable and varied workloads; supportive work relationships; and receiving adequate pay and benefits. Home care nurses did not identify job satisfaction as a single concept influencing ITR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Home care nursing management should support nurse autonomy, allow flexible scheduling, promote reasonable workloads and create opportunities for team building that strengthen supportive relationships among home care nurses and other health team members.
authors.affiliation: Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tourangeau
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Patterson
authors.forename: Alissa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saari
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.forename: Geraldine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: MacDonald
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cranley
authors.forename: Mae
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Squires
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004651:Employment / Q000592:standards*; D017144:Focus Groups; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D010558:Personnel Loyalty; D036301:Qualitative Research
keywords: focus groups; healthcare delivery; home care nurse; home health nurse; human resource planning; retention