The Factors Effect the Venue Selection and Joining to Physical Activity of the Users Visit ‘Özgürlük Park and Recreation’ area for Physical Activity

¹ Kocaeli University, Health Sciences Institute, Department of Physical Education and Sports Teacher Training, Kocaeli, Turkey
² Sakarya University, Institute of Educational Department of Physical Education and Sports Teacher Training, Sakarya, Turkey
³ Kocaeli University, Sport Sciences Faculty, Academician of the Department of Recreation, Kocaeli, Turkiye

^a Corresponding author: onurkavi92@gmail.com

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the influencing factors of people to choose the place and participate in physical activities for parks and recreational sites. The participants of this study are the people who live in İstanbul, Kadıköy, 15 years or older people and regular users of Özgürlük Park and Recreational field. 232 people volunteered for this study. When we look at the data, we have gathered from these people we decided some participant’s answers are invalid thus we decided to study on 200 valid answers we have. 50,5% percent of the participants are male, 49,5% percent of participants are female. As data gathering tool we used FAMDÖ which adopted to Turkey, and its correspondence and trustworthiness are proven. FAMDO consists 33 questions and two subcategories (choosing physical activity place and factors which prevent people from participating physical activities). It is five scale Likert-type questionnaire. It evaluates the reason of participants picking a park and recreational site for physical activity and the reasons that prevent people from participating physical activities. For data analysis, we used descriptive statistics and single variable variance analysis (ANOVA) and Independent Samples T-Test. The data we have obtained from the field (Özgürlük Park and Recreation site) showed us, as place choosing Scale points is statistically significant(p>0,05) gender wise. At the end of the study, we found the factors that influence people choosing parks and recreational places for physical activity. We also found the reasons that prevent people from participating physical activities and came up with solutions that minimize the reasons. We shared our finding with local administrators.