Açık Alan Spor Parkı Kullanan Bireylerin Profilinin, Alışkanlıklarının ve İhtiyaçlarının Belirlenmesi: İstanbul İli Örneği

Abstract

Purpose: The study aimed to investigate individuals who use recently popular outdoor exercise parks in terms of their profile, exercise habits, and the difficulties encountered during using the sports parks. Methods: This study was conducted in 6 outdoor sports parks located in Maltepe, Istanbul including 120 individuals. A questionnaire was applied to the participants by face-to-face interview method. Results: It was observed that 58.3% of participants stated that they learned how to use sports equipment by themselves, 12% stated that they consulted the experts. It was determined that 17,5% of the participants had hypertension, 7.5% had diabetes mellitus and 5% had cardiovascular disease. The regular drug use rate was 32.5%. Despite this situation, it was determined that 76.7% of the participants did not undergo medical examinations before starting regular exercise. Also, 76.7% of the participants stated that expert supervision is required during exercise. Conclusions and Suggestions: Local administrations should make in-park informative arrangements to develop public awareness on exercise parks and exercise equipment and health professionals should inform the public about the benefits of exercise and encourage them to check health status before exercising. ABSTRACT Introduction: Physical inactivity ranks fourth among death risk factors and is of worldwide For this reason, health institutions and organizations all have aimed to develop strategies that support and encourage especially Health Especially in big cities, the common problem caused by rapid urbanization and intensive business life is the increasing need among individuals for sports and recreation day by day. For this reason, local governments provide outdoor sports parks where individuals can do physical activity to contribute to public health (Üstün, Zorba, & Üstün, 2018). To the best of our knowledge, descriptive studies conducted in our country regarding the use of these outdoor sports parks are very few. There are some studies conducted in provinces such as Ankara, Mersin, Gaziantep, Eskişehir, Kütahya, İzmir, and Hatay (Doğru ve ark. 2015; Külekçi Tatlı & Gündoğdu, Lapa ve ark. 2012; Önal & Sağır, 2018; Öztürk, 2015; Şimsek ve ark. 2011; Üstün ve ark. 2018). However, there is a need for a study investigating the profile, needs, and problems faced by individuals who immigrated from various geographies and benefited from the open area sports parks used in Istanbul, a city that has socio-cultural differences. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate individuals who use recently popular outdoor exercise parks in terms of their profile, exercise habits, and the difficulties encountered while using the sports parks. Materials and Methods: The research model is structured as a cross-sectional survey. Ethics committee approval was obtained before the study. This study was conducted in 6 outdoor sports parks located in Maltepe, Istanbul including 120 individuals. A questionnaire was applied to the participants by face-to-face interview method. Within the scope of the Sports Park Survey,