The role of psychological selection of applicants for higher education in dangerous professions

Abstract

The aim of the study. It was compared the adaptive potential and readiness to perform professional duties among the medical students and cadets of NANGU. Materials and methods. There were 134 respondents, who took part in a survey which was based on «Adaptability» questionnaire by A. Maklakov. The total time of the survey was thirty minutes. The criteria included respondents at the age from 18-30 and their regular physical activity for at least three times a week. The criteria included respondents at the age from 18-30 and their regular physical activity for at least three times a week. Among the exclusion criteria were duty or night shift in the hospital, taking psychotropic drugs, acute respiratory viral diseases during the survey period. Results and discussion. Average indices of NANGU cadets belong to the third group of human adaptive abilities (satisfactory abilities), meanwhile the medical students show the prevailing indices of the fourth group (unsatisfactory abilities). Medical students demonstrate lower indices of neuropsychological stability (28,13±12,97 c. u.), comparing to cadets (13,29±9,01 c. u.; t1-2 = 6,87, at p 0,001). The group of medical students demonstrates worse indices on all scales of the «Adaptability» questionnaire, except for the «Probability» scale, comparing to the group of NANGU cadets. It is worth mentioning that medical students reveal greater self-criticism, introversion, they tend to self-reflection that hinders the process of secondary adaptation in society and reduces resistance to stressful conditions. Conclusions. It indicates a poor adaptation to the requirements of professional activity and determines the need to conduct mandatory psychological selection among medical students during admission to an educational institution. In the future, the level and development of adaptive capabilities of young professionals among students might become one of the main reasons for their change of professional area and subsequently might lead to significant loss of state economic resources which were spent on their training.