Peculiarities of future law enforcement officers’ psychological readiness for professional stress in war conditions

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the peculiarities of future law enforcement officers’ psychological readiness for professional activities under the influence of wartime stressors. Materials and Methods: During 2023-2025, the research was conducted among cadets of the 3rd training years (2023-2024, Group A, n = 114) and (2024-2025, Group B, n = 112) aged 18-22 years who undertook their utilization tours in practical police units (for 3 months): Group A without prior professional and psychological training, Group B – after preliminary correctional and psychological work. Results: It has been established that the specifics of the professional activities of law enforcement officers under martial law have a negative impact on the indicators of their psycho-emotional state and stress resilience. At the same time, targeted correctional and psychological work with cadets reduces the magnitude of negative changes in all diagnostic indicators: in Group A, the indicators of well-being, activity and mood significantly (p ≤ 0.05-0.01) deteriorated by 0.6, 0.7 and 1.2 points, and in Group B – by 0.4, 0.4 and 0.5 points, respectively (p > 0.05); the indicators of psychological stress, stress resilience, predisposition to develop stress, endurance under stress in Group A deteriorated significantly (p ≤ 0.05-0.01) by 6.2, 3.9, 4.9, 5.1 points, and in Group B – unreliably (p > 0.05) by 4.3, 2.6, 3.4 and 2.9 points, respectively. Conclusions: It has been proven that a well-organized professional and psychological training contributes to improving the level of future law enforcement officers’ psychological readiness for professional activities under the influence of wartime stress factors.