Examining leisure time involvement levels and psychological well-being of employees in local government (Sample of Konya Meram Municipality)

Leisure involvement is an important aspect of modern life, encompassing a wide range of activities and interests. From reading books to participating in physical activities, leisure activities are an important part of maintaining a healthy and satisfying lifestyle. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the leisure involvement levels and psychological well-being of local government employees in terms of demographic variables and to present the results in this context in the literature. The research is a quantitative study and was carried out according to a descriptive survey design. The population of the study consists of all personnel working in the central building of Meram Municipality in Konya Province. After the interview with Meram Municipality central building administrators, it was determined that there are 356 personnel working in the central building. At this point, the population of the thesis consists of 356 people. The sample size of the study should be at least 186 people, according to the 95% confidence interval and 5% margin of error. In the study, 220 people determined according to the simple random sampling method, one of the probability-based sampling methods, constitute the sample. The data obtained as a result of the research were analyzed with SPSS software. In the analysis of the data, percentage and frequency descriptive statistics methods were used to determine the distribution of the participants' personal information, and the skewness and kurtosis values of the data were checked to determine whether the data showed a normal distribution. It was observed that the data were normally distributed. In statistical analysis, in addition to descriptive statistical models, t-test, anova, post-hoc, and Pearson correlation analyses were performed to determine the relationship between SZI and PIO. According to the research findings, it was determined that individuals who participate in sportive, social, cultural, and artistic activities in their free time have high levels of leisure involvement. In addition, individuals who think that they use their leisure time effectively and actively participate in activities have a high level of psychological well-being. In addition, it was found that there was no significant difference in the overall and sub-dimensions of the SZI and PIO scales used in the analysis of the duration of work experience, daily free time outside of work, and routine tasks, and that there was a high level of positive relationship between SZI and PIO. In conclusion, the findings suggest that individuals who utilize leisure time actively and with a variety of activities have higher Leisure involvement in general, which supports their psychological well-being. In other words, when individuals utilize their leisure time effectively, their psychological well-being tends to increase. This shows that leisure-time activities can positively contribute to the psychological health of individuals.