The Facilitators and Barriers to Nurses’ Participation in Continuing Education Programs: A Mixed Method Explanatory Sequential Study

BACKGROUND: Since several factors affect nurses’ participation in Continuing Education, and that nurses’ Continuing Education affects patients’ and community health status, it is essential to know facilitators and barriers of participation in Continuing Education programs and plan accordingly. This mixed approach study aimed to investigate the facilitators and barriers of nurses’ participation, to explore nurses’ perception of the most common facilitators and barriers. METHODS: An explanatory sequential mixed methods design with follow up explanations variant were used, and it involved collecting quantitative data (361 nurses) first and then explaining the quantitative results with in-depth interviews during a qualitative study. RESULTS: The results showed that the mean score of facilitators to nurses’ participation in Continuing Education was significantly higher than the mean score of barriers (61.99±10.85 versus 51.17±12.83; p<0.001, t=12.23). The highest mean score of facilitators of nurses’ participation in Continuing Education was related to “Update my knowledge”. By reviewing the handwritings in qualitative phase, two main levels of updating information and professional skills were extracted as the most common facilitators and lack of support as the most common barrier to nurses’ participation in continuing education program. CONCLUSION: According to important role Continuing Education on professional skills, nurse managers should facilitate the nurse’ participation in the Continues Education.