"On February 24, 2022, the Russian-Ukrainian war began, in which hundreds of thousands of military personnel are participating. Almost all military personnel experience combat stress. In our opinion, the most fully reflecting the occurrence of stress in humans, including combat stress in military personnel, is the conservation of resource theory proposed by S. Hobfoll. According to this theory, stress occurs when: central or key resources (health, well-being, family, self-esteem, and a sense of purpose and meaning in life) are threatened with loss, are lost, or cannot be retrieved following significant effort. Combat stress in military personnel can manifest itself in the form of negative manifestations of the psychological, physical, psychophysiological, and behavioral register. The most effective system for the prevention and control of combat stress among military personnel was developed in the US Army. Such a program should contain medical and psychological work activities carried out in three stages: preparatory (before performing combat missions), the stage of direct performance of tasks in the combat zone, and the final stage (after completing tasks upon returning to permanent deployment points)."
"The article shows the development of the method of psychological evaluation called "Evaluation of Negative Mental Reactions and States of Combatants". In the study participated 1300 male servicemen (29.84% from junior lieutenant to colonel and servicemen under contract and demobilized, and 70.16% from private to senior warrant officer). The age of participants varied from 20 to 55 years. The system of evaluation developed consisted of 16 instruments that could help to determine the presence of negative psychological symptoms of servicemen related to their participation in hostilities. The results indicated that the evaluation method developed is a tool that allows determining the presence of negative psychological symptoms related to participation in combat. Likewise, it is a useful and fast method to assess the effectiveness of short-term psychological recovery programs. Unlike existing methods of diagnosing negative mental reactions and states of an individual, which arose after their participation in hostilities, the developed psychodiagnostic toolkit could consider the physical and mental fatigue of the respondents, their deterioration, and other cognitive dysfunctions."
In accordance with the results of conducted research there were figured out the content, hierarchy, intensity of motives and their possibility to be implemented in servicemen with various levels of effectiveness of service activity. 2435 male servicemen participated in the research, they equally presented all the operational and territorial military unifications and units of the National Guard of Ukraine. Each unit proportionately presented officers as well as military personnel under contract who included the participants of hostilities and those who did not have such experience. Examination of various aspects of servicemen motivation was conducted with the help of the following the methods which were standardized being based on the Ukrainian selection "Close Questionnaire of Examining the Motivation of Professional Choice Made by Applicants of the Ministry of Internal Affairs", "Questionnaire of Estimation of the Effectiveness of Military Tasks' Execution by Servicemen of the National Guard of Ukraine", questionnaire on "Sense-Bearing and Life Orientations", the methods of "Studying the Motivational Profile of Personality", and "Locus of Control". There was conducted the cluster analysis which gave the possibility to figure out six motivational types connected with the effectiveness of servicemen operational activity. Motivational types were located between the poles which were introduced by two dimensions: self-efficacy (autonomous and controlled motivation) and motivation of helping others (motivations of public service - selfishness). Those motivational types of servicemen were the following: motivated by public service, stagnant, prosocial, romantic, deficient, and dependent. Distinguished types included the content, hierarchy, intensity of motives and their possibility to be implemented.
According to the results of the study, there were determined the peculiarities of military values of servicemen who participated in hostilities and had signs of PTSD and moral trauma. The study included 397 servicemen (aged 20 to 55 years) with combat experience. The study showed that PTSD and violation of moral normativity were closely related to unfavorable social conditions of performing combat tasks. Unlike PTSD, the moral normativity indicator was less tightly related to the immediate threat to life. The structure of values of the servicemen had no signs of PTSD as well as no violation of moral normativity consisted of factors that indicated the value of teamwork, responsibilities for decisions and actions made based on ideas related to loyalty to the oath and the Motherland, resistance, and professionalism. For the servicemen who participated in hostilities who had violations of moral normativity, it was more important to have the ability to act following their conscience, not to lose dignity, and to remain honest in the faces of their brothers than to have professionalism, loyalty to the oath and the Motherland.
"The aim of the research was to determine the social and psychological predictors of alcohol-related incidents involving servicemen. The research involved 310 servicemen, who were subjected to disciplinary and administrative penalties within 2016-2021 years for the offence commitment under the influence of alcohol. The control group included 650 servicemen who joined the service within this period. The analysis of psychological features of servicemen was carried out with the help of the following methods: "Determination of Type Accentuation of Character Traits and Temper" Questionnaire, "Self-Esteem Structures of Temper Questionnaire", "Multilevel Personality 'Adaptability' Questionnaire", "Progressive Matrix", "16 PF Questionnaire", and "Self-Esteem Structures of Temper Questionnaire". Cluster analysis was used to differentiate servicemen who committed incidents under the influence of alcohol. The determined typology was valuable for the organization of preventive works, events dedicated to the improvement of socialization by recruits, adequate formation of servicemen image as well as their identification in accordance with it, and events dedicated to the prevention of suicidal behaviour."
"The results of the conducted research gave the possibility to distinguish the structure of the motivation which was suitable for the distinguished types of motivation of servicemen of the National Guard of Ukraine with different levels of effectiveness of their professional activity including motivation based on public service, stagnation, prosaically, romantic, deficient, and dependent. 2435 male servicemen participated in the research. They equally represented all the operational and territorial reunifications and military units of the National Guard of Ukraine. Every unit equally presented the officers, servicemen under the contract including the participants in hostilities as well as those who did not have such experience. The research was conducted with the help of the methods which were standardized by the Ukrainian language: "Close Questionnaire of Examining the Motivation of Professional Choice Made by Applicants of the Ministry of Internal Affairs", "Methods of Studying the Motivational Profile of Personality", and "Motivation Sources Inventory – MSI". The conducted research posed the possibility to describe not only the determined types of professional motivation of servicemen, but also specific phenomena such as self-motivation of the representatives of a type which was run by public service motivation; "rest on the laurels" for the type of stagnation; problems related to choice-making for the prosocial type for whom profession, family, and friends had equal meaning; the tendency for manipulation to gain access to desirable aspects of professional activity of the type which struggled for adventures; lack of sincere interest in the military profession for the deficient type which could change it for more prospective having the same requests for the candidates; attitude to the profession as if it was a means of satisfaction of the needs of their emotional life for the dependent type"
"According to the results of the conducted study there were distinguished the peculiarities of perception of the image of a junior officer by servicemen who participated in hostilities and had various PTSD symptoms. The study included 233 male servicemen with combat experience. The age of the participants varied from 20 to 55 years. It was determined that the image perception of the direct commander by the servicemen who did not have any PTSD symptoms had been influenced by both the key features of the modern way of fighting and the way a protective mechanism of consciousness acted, which gave the possibility to maintain mental health under combat conditions. These servicemen considered the awareness, kindness, and physical strength of their commander to be not important. The first stage was occupied by his/her ability to adequately fulfill his/her leadership function and the power of his/her spirit – the courage and love of the Motherland, which formed his/her reliability. Servicemen who had PTSD symptoms were less satisfied with the role of a junior officer and considered him/her to be less capable of meeting their expectations. They were less interested in commanders who could involve them in situations that required quick, brave action and complete responsibility for the entrusted part of common affairs. The most important factors in the structure of the direct commander image in both studied groups were the power of personality (the ability of self-regulation); however, the servicemen with PTSD symptoms had a specific orientation of these factors – to help their subordinates. They were quite selfishly aimed at using their direct commanders as a way of getting help. "
