EXAMINATION OF THE SERIOUS LEISURE, LEISURE SATISFACTION AND QUALITY OF LIFE OF PEOPLE WITH PHYSICAL DISABILITIES

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to classify types of serious leisure participants with physical disabilities, and to examine the differences among the segmented groups based on the serious leisure qualities regarding leisure satisfaction and quality of life. For this aim, questionnaires were used to collect data, and they were applied on 133 serious leisure participants with physical disabilities. A two-stage sampling method (a purposive and a snowball sampling procedures) was employed. According to the results of the cluster analysis, serious leisure participants with physical disabilities classified into three different clusters, and they were named as "devotees", "moderate devotees", and "core devotees". MANOVA results revealed significant differences among the segmented groups on leisure satisfaction and psychological aspect of quality of life. Core devotees were more satisfied with their serious leisure pursuit and they reported higher levels of psychological quality of life than devotees and moderate devotees. As a conclusion, it can be claimed that as the level of participation in serious leisure increases, leisure satisfaction and psychological quality of life increase, too.