INVESTIGATION OF THE LIFE QUALITY OF WOMEN IN ANKARA ACCORDING TO THEIR PARTICIPATION IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Introduction: Exercising regularly and participating in physical activity improves endurance by strengthening the cardiovascular system as well as muscle strength and flexibility. Regular physical exercise is also beneficial for mental health. The aim of this study is to examine the effects of joining a physical exercise program in female participants in terms of age, marital status, education level, welfare level, frequency of participation in physical activity, general health status, physical appearance and life quality. Material and method: A quantitative method was used in the research. The population of the study consists of women over the age of 18 who live in Ankara who regularly attend sport centres. The study group consisted of 355 women who were collected by easy sampling, within a total sample of 7500 women over the age of 18, members of 15 B-fit sports centres operating in different regions of Ankara. In order to evaluate the life quality of the research group, the ''Life Quality'' scale developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) (1998) and adapted by Sevil into Turkish was used as data collection tool. The scale has five sub-dimensions and consists of 23 questions. As the data showed normal distribution, T-test was used for binary comparisons, Anova for multiple comparisons, and LSD test was used to determine the source of the differences. Results: The majority of the women participating in the study were between 36-44 years old, married and graduate. The majority of women exercised occasionally. Welfare, health status and physical appearance ware intermediate. It was determined that women attribute importance to health status and physical appearance. Conclusion: It was found that the life quality of the women with good welfare level was higher and was concluded that the quality of life increased as the physical activity level increased.