Résumé
Nurses are tending to choose fixed-term contracts rather than permanent ones, and are even resigning their permanent contracts in favour of more "precarious" contracts. The directors and managers of healthcare and medico-social facilities must there fore adapt to this situation. The aim of this study is to determine the factors that lead nurses to opt for fixed-term contracts. Based on the theory of self-determination, the research question of our study is: what are the factors that satisfy the needs for autonomy, competence and social relations and that support a nurse's motivation to remain on a fixed-term contract? To answer this question, we used the qualitative semi-directive interview method, which we analyse dusing a reading and coding grid. We found that the factors of freedom, change and diversity, as well as the wealth of encounters that fixed-term contracts allow, satisfy the needs for autonomy, competence and social relations of nurses who choose fixed-term contracts.