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Awareness of the mechanisms underlying training and development (T&D) programmes is crucial in creating sustainable learning conditions in organisations. The organisational and psychosocial aspects of the work environment in Swedish elderly care is the focus of this longitudinal study, and the relation between process and results of a T&D programme is investigated. A mixed-methods design enabled exploration of the content of the quality improvement efforts, followed by an examination of how aspects of the work environment are influenced. The perceived learning climate, workload and resource adequacy are shown to be influenced differently by different contents. Insights into the complexity surrounding T&D programmes are then offered. It is concluded that even if a seemingly sound method of quality improvement is implemented, this is not enough to guarantee success. Also, it is apparent that changes may sometimes be at the expense of employees' work environment, which may hamper continuous learning.