| In today's industrialized country societies, people have to work like a machine sparing no time for themselves. This adversely affects individuals in terms of both their psychology and physiology and causes them to be unhealthy individuals. Unhealthiness starting from the individual gradually becomes a communal problem (Ergül, Alp, & Çamlıyer, 2015). To prevent this, one needs to learn how to manage time and live according to a program (Güngörmüş, Yetim, & Çalık, 2006; Ayyıldız Durhan, Akgul, & Karaküçük, 2017). Individuals who are able to manage time and live according to a program will have time for themselves after carrying out the activities they are obliged to carry out in order to maintain their lives. In leisure time, the individuals carry out the activities they volunteer to do; thus they can experience both psychological relief and increase their productivity during working hours (Huang & Carleton, 2003, Önder, 2003, Güngör & Cengiz, 2006, Tel & Köksalan, 2008, Sabbağ & Aksoy, 2011, Tütüncü, Aydın, Küçükusta, Avcı, & Taş, 2011). As Tümer (1975) and Uzun & Altunkasa (1991) stated, activities voluntarily carried out by people in their leisure time can be defined as recreational activities (Mansuroğlu, 2002).In the most general and most understandable way, recreation can be defined as activities carried out in" leisure time" outside working hours. As people perform recreational activities, they become aware of their potential and also satisfy the need for self-realization in Maslow's hierarchy of needs (Figure 1). This is because recreation allows individuals to discover themselves and develop their potential (Sevil, 2012). |
Prof. Dr. Sevgi ÖZTÜRK
