Changing recreation perception with COVID-19: A research in waiting rooms

Along with the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been many changes in social life, as well as a change in the perception of recreation. With the pandemic, it is observed that there is a tendency towards new normals in almost every field. One of the areas where change is experienced is the ways of making use of the leisure time that has increased with the pandemic. The aim of this study is to investigate the changes in the perception of recreation with the increasing leisure time due to the globally effective COVID-19 virus. In this context, it has been researched with which tools the leisure time spent in the waiting rooms is used and what kind of changes are tended with the pandemic. In the study, the waiting room of the dental clinic was examined as a research area, the patients in the waiting room were observed and it was revealed with which tools they evaluated their waiting times. The physical environment and service provision of the waiting rooms in terms of leisure time have a great impact on the recreation perception of individuals. Recreation activities in waiting rooms provide important physiological, psychological and social benefits to individuals and positively affect their life satisfaction and service quality. The study observes the leisure activities of the individuals in the waiting room during the pandemic process, and sheds light on future studies in terms of experientially observing which activities the patients concentrate on during their waiting period, and in which time and variety they use the leisure time activities offered. This study differs from other studies in that it was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected societies psychologically, physiologically, economically and sociologically, and that there is no other study that deals with the perception of leisure in waiting rooms. With this aspect of the study, it is thought that it will fill the gap in the literature and make an important contribution to the literature.