The Relationship Between Leisure Activities and Aging Anxiety in Women

Overview

The goal of this observational study is to learn about the effect of leisure activities on aging anxiety of middle-aged (45-59) women. The main question it aims to answer is: Do the leisure activities (doing sports, playing music instruments, doing handicrafts, writing, taking care of a pet, growing plants, dancing etc.) affect the aging anxiety level of middle-aged women? Participants will be required to fill out a form querying their socio-demographic information, medical histories, and regular leisure activities. Subsequently, the "Aging Anxiety Scale for Middle-Aged Women" will be applied.

In this study, women aged between 40 and 59 registered at the Marmara University Education Family Health Center (FHC) in the Tuzla district will be included. There are a total of 352 women in this age range registered with the FHC, and it is aimed to reach all of them. Patients will be informed about the study by Dr. Buğu Usanma Koban via telephone, and they will be invited to the FHC for the administration of the questionnaire. After obtaining informed consent from those who agree to participate in the study, their personal information will be recorded through a face-to-face interview. Subsequently, the Aging Anxiety Scale for Middle-Aged Women, developed by Lee and You, and validated in Turkish by Aydın and Kabasakal, will be applied to the participants. Finally, volunteers will be asked to fill out a questionnaire specifying the types and frequencies of their leisure activities. SPSS (version 20.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) will be used for data analysis. Descriptive statistical information will be presented as mean ± standard deviation or %, and a p-value less than 0.05 will be considered statistically significant. In the comparison of more than two independent groups that do not meet the assumptions of parametric tests, the Kruskal-Wallis analysis will be conducted. If the analysis is significant, groups will be subjected to pairwise Mann-Whitney U tests. To understand the relationship between leisure activities and aging anxiety, Spearman Correlation Analysis will be conducted for parameters conforming to normal distribution, and Pearson Correlation Analysis will be performed for parameters not conforming to normal distribution. The correlation coefficient (r value) will be specified.