SPECIFIC-SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF THE PROBLEM OF PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF MENTAL HEALTH FORMATION IN MILITARY PERSONNEL

Abstract

The article presents a theoretical analysis of specific scientific approaches whose provisions can be used for a consistent study of the problem of psychological features of mental health formation in military personnel. The relevance of the issue is associated with the need to coordinate scientific positions on health preservation, the use of personal and social resources, preventive work, the maintenance of adaptive functioning, the formation of a responsible attitude towards health, and consideration of the conditions of the military professional environment. The works of Ye. M. Potapchuk, V. Ye. Mozaliov, V. S. Handzha, N. S. Kostruba, and S. O. Chyzhevskyi were analysed; these researchers addressed the foundations of preserving the mental health of military personnel, its criteria and indicators, risk factors, and directions of psychological support and recovery. The methodological basis of the article comprised provisions concerning the multilevel organisation of scientific cognition, the dependence of the research method on the content of the subject, and the need to combine complementary research positions. The methods of theoretical analysis, comparison, conceptual clarification, systematisation, and generalisation were used. The content of a scientific approach was clarified as a system of initial provisions that determines the direction, logic, and boundaries of considering a problem. The health-preserving approach was presented as a general orientation towards preserving, maintaining, restoring, and strengthening mental health. The resource approach was associated with analysing internal and external capacities and the ways of preserving, activating, and restoring them. The preventive approach was considered in connection with information and educational work, the formation of a responsible attitude towards mental health, and the implementation of primary and secondary prevention at the individual, family, group, and organisational levels. The resilience-oriented approach was directed at explaining the processes of maintaining and restoring adaptive functioning under considerable strain. The valeological approach specified the value-based, cognitive, and behavioural content of health-preserving activity. The interdisciplinary approach ensured the coordination of psychological, pedagogical, medical, social, and organisational provisions. The analysis of scientific works provided grounds for substantiating the complementary nature of the outlined approaches. Their system makes it possible to consider the stated problem through the interrelation of the military service member’s personal activity, available resources, preventive influences, adaptation processes, and conditions of the military environment. The leading orientation within this system is determined by the health-preserving approach, while the other approaches clarify particular directions, mechanisms, levels, and conditions of mental health formation in military personnel.