Data from: Effectiveness of Online Off-the-Job Training in Attracting Participants and Video-On-Demand Streaming in Improving Work-Life Balance: A Study Focusing on Medical Technologists

The Nara Association of Medical Technologists has introduced online Off-Job Training (Off-JT) starting from FY2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to evaluate the online Off-JT, which differs from the traditional face-to-face format. Firstly, we compared the online format's ability to attract participants with the face-to-face format based on the number of training sessions and attendees. Despite having fewer training sessions (40.8% less), the online format had an average attendance of 105.4% higher (39.7 vs. 19.3) than the face-to-face format. To enhance participant convenience, we offered a limited number of live and video-on-demand (VOD) sessions on YouTube, evaluating their usefulness through an online survey focusing on work-life balance (WLB). The survey results showed that 81.9% (458/559) of respondents reported an improvement in WLB. The effect on WLB improvement varied depending on the viewing method, with VOD sessions showing 84.1% (376/447) and live sessions showing 73.2% (82/112). We believe that the increased ability to attract participants in the online Off-JT is mainly due to the elimination of travel burdens through internet-connected devices. The combination of live and VOD sessions on YouTube allowed participants to adjust their viewing time, leading to better allocation of free time and improved WLB. The online Off-JT and VOD delivery have shown to enhance convenience for participants by removing geographical and time constraints, resulting in positive effects.