The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between the tolerance for uncertainty level and several psychophysiological and psychological qualities of military specialists for determining additional approaches to occupational selection. The study was conducted on a group of servicemen who performed special tasks and were capable of responding to terrorism – 49 men (main group) and 19 military doctors (control group) – men aged 25-34 years. Tolerance for uncertainty was studied based on the modified S. Badnder’s method. The level of manipulation score (MAC) was assessed by the adapted I.A. Romanova and O.O. Zhdanov questionnaire (estimated by the so-called "MacScale"). Psycho-physiological parameters were determined using a special computer program. Statistical analysis of data was performed by descriptive and nonparametric statistics, as well as a cluster, stepwise discriminant, and correlation analysis. A personality trait “tolerance for uncertainty” was valuable for the occupational activity of servicemen performing special tasks. The such feature had 63.3% of servicemen in the studied group. The specificity of the occupational activity of military doctors was the quality of manipulation of people. Moreover, those who were the most tolerant of uncertainty had an inverse relationship with Machiavellianism, which indicates the existence of compensatory psychological mechanisms balancing and harmonizing service and personal relationships among micro-teams of servicemen. Servicemen with a lower level of tolerance for uncertainty had positive relationships with several psychophysiological functions (strength and mobility of nervous processes, quality of dynamic memorization), which confirms the idea of psychophysiological mechanisms to enhance tolerance for uncertainty by increasing the working capacity of these people. Such personal quality as tolerance for uncertainty is a valuable occupationally important feature that allows performing the selection of servicemen who are more efficient and reliable in the performance of official duties tasks.
Introduction. The considerable numbers of servicemen who have applied for psychiatric help and who have been discharged for mental health from the Armed Forces of Ukraine testify the need to revise the whole system of providing psychiatric, psychomedical, and social aid to servicemen in warfare. Purpose. To identify medical and social aspects of mental and behavioral disorders among servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in peacetime and warfare for justification the developing and implementing the system of psychomedical care in Ukrainian Defense Forces with NATO standards adaptation. Methods. A retrospective analysis of statistical data on the level, structure, dynamics of the overall incidence rate of mental disorders as well as hospitalized morbidity among the military personnel of Ukrainian Armed Forces and health status dismissal based on long-term observation data (2008-2017) as well as comparison of indicators of the period 2008-2013 and 2014-2017 based on official statistical reporting has been performed. The statistical processing of the sample results was carried out using descriptive statistics and analysis of alternative characteristics. Results. It was discovered that in the structure of the total incidence of mental disorders among the military personnel of Ukrainian Armed Forces on class F (ICD-10) for the period of 2014-2017 years there was a significant redistribution of all categories of military personnel in comparison with 2008-2013 (among officers as well as contract servicemen, the overall incidence rate of mental disorders decreased dependably). The proportion of disorders of adult personality and behavior with other syndromes (F50-F99) significantly increased due to a significant decrease of neurotic, stress-related, and somatoform complaints cases. Conclusions. The overall incidence rate of mental disorders, as well as hospitalized morbidity within the structure of overall incidence rate of diseases in 2008-2017 for officers and contract servicemen, significantly increased with peak values in 2015 (p≤0.001) with further decreasing in 2016-2017 years, but among conscripts - remained unchanged. It has been established that starting from 2014, the indicators of discharges among officers have tended to increase with the maximum rates in 2015 (compared to 2013 by 7 times higher) and contract servicemen in 2016 (compared to 2013 by 5.3 times higher) with a further decrease. The identified features of mental health disorder in servicemen and their consequences according to long-term observation (both in peacetime and in warfare) are the keys to the development and implementation of the proposed psychomedical care system in defense forces readapted to NATO standards.
