PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN THE FIELD OF SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL REHABILITATION OF MILITARY PERSONNEL AND WAR VETERANS: REGULATORY AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK

Abstract

The article examines the regulatory and legal framework governing public administration in the field of social and psychological rehabilitation of military personnel and war veterans under the conditions of the full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine. It substantiates the urgency of improving the public administration system, driven by the rapid increase in the number of military personnel and war veterans requiring comprehensive social, psychological, medical, and professional support. The study analyzes the constitutional foundations of public administration in the field of social and psychological rehabilitation, the provisions of the Laws of Ukraine On Social and Legal Protection of Military Personnel and Members of Their Families, On the Status of War Veterans and Guarantees of Their Social Protection, On the Mental Health Care System in Ukraine, as well as subordinate regulatory legal acts and strategic policy documents. The paper highlights the role of the Coordination Council on the Rehabilitation and Support of Military Personnel, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine in shaping the contemporary rehabilitation system. It explores the legislative framework for the social protection of military personnel and war veterans, examines the specific features of organizing psychological assistance, and characterizes the principal functional components of social and psychological rehabilitation together with its key areas. The study establishes that, in recent years, the public administration system has undergone significant development through the introduction of digital registers, the establishment of the institution of veteran support specialists, the improvement of psychological assistance mechanisms, and the strengthening of interagency cooperation. At the same time, it demonstrates that the existing regulatory and legal framework remains insufficiently coordinated and does not fully meet contemporary needs. This is manifested in the fragmented nature of legal regulation, inadequate coordination among public authorities, unequal accessibility of rehabilitation services, a shortage of qualified specialists, limited rehabilitation infrastructure, and insufficient financial support. The study substantiates that the further development of public administration in the field of social and psychological rehabilitation should be based on the harmonization of the regulatory and legal framework, the development of an integrated interagency rehabilitation system, the implementation of a humancentred approach, the further digitalization of administrative processes, the expansion of rehabilitation services, the strengthening of human resource capacity, the introduction of unified standards for assessing the quality of rehabilitation services, and the development of rehabilitation infrastructure in accordance with the needs of military personnel, war veterans, and their family members.