Training as an Effective Means of Cadets' Adaptation to Service Conditions

Introduction. In modern conditions of political and economic-social imbalance the problem of increasing the level of professionalism of personnel of internal affairs bodies is becoming more and more acute. Formation of an employee's personality as a professional is carried out in the process of his adaptation in the framework of operational-service activity. Difficulties in professional adaptation are primarily characteristic of cadets and graduates of higher education institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Adaptation of cadets to the conditions of work and service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs is a dynamically complex and multidimensional process, including adaptation both to new forms of training and in a new social environment - professional group. Therefore, cadets, as no one else, need the correct organization of the process of their adaptation to their professional activity. The novelty of the study lies in the development and approbation of a training program aimed at optimizing the socio-psychological adaptation to training and service activities, as a result of which the cadet begins to independently build a perspective of his future, formulate personal and professional plans. Objective. To study the influence of the developed training program on cadets' adaptation to the conditions of training and service activity. Materials and methods. The study involved 30 freshmen cadets of Donetsk city, distributed in the experimental and control groups. The following methods were used for diagnostics of cadets: "Multilevel personal questionnaire Adaptability" by A. G. Maklakov and S. V. Chermyanin; "SUN" technique by V. A. Doskin, N. A. Lavrentieva, V. B. Sharay, M. P. Miroshnikov; T. Leary interpersonal relations diagnostic technique. Results. It is established that after the training program "I am a cadet", cadets show better adaptability in comparison with the cadets with whom the program was not conducted, which indicates that for the latter the period of training and service is quite difficult. The description of the training program and the analysis of the results of its influence on the level of adaptation of cadets are given. Discussion. Comparative analysis of the control and experimental groups showed that the training program "I am a cadet" helps to improve the level of cadets' adaptation to the conditions of service activity and training. They began to demonstrate better knowledge of themselves and others, their well-being, activity and mood improved. Also after application of special exercises the level of aggression and hostility decreased. The obtained data can be used by psychologists of service activity in counseling and correctional work with personnel.