Abstract
A content analysis was performed using KH Coder on a report on the work-life balance （WLB） workshop project, conducted by the Japanese Nursing Association, to identify challenges towards resolution of issues in institutions newly participating during the period from 2010 to 2012. The challenges towards resolution of issues in 236 institutions in 32 prefectures were broken down into 4,648 keywords, which were then classified into 22 issues. The issues were divided into 4 categories:<Basic aspects of WLB>;<Challenges of WLB>;<Challenging methods>;and <Challenges taking into account achievements>. For the subsequent four months, <Challenging methods> accounted for 35% or more for each year. On the other hand, for the subsequent 1 year and for the subsequent 3 years, <Challenging methods> accounted for a lower percentage, and <Basic aspects of WLB> and <Challenges of WLB> increased to more than 60%, indicating the shift to the essential WLB challenges. These findings suggest that the support through the workshop was effective. Regarding the relationship among issues selected, “greater motivation” was found to be strongly linked to other selected issues, suggesting that it is a necessary challenge for further promotion of WLB.
