Representations Of Professional Duty Among Students Of Socionomic Professions

Abstract

The reforms of recent decades have affected many areas where the representatives of socionomic professions work (healthcare, police, education). The problem of high personnel turnover, insufficient motivation of employees, understaffing is extremely relevant especially in the regions. The problem is not only in financial incentives, but also in the professional relevance of the occupied professional position. The current situation is characterized by high requirements for the representatives of these professions (personal characteristics, level of knowledge, professional competence and others), on the one hand, and high personnel turnover, on the other hand. In our opinion, one of the ways to solve this problem is to identify the characteristics of professional duty as a fundamental characteristic of socionomic professions at the stage of vocational training with a view to its development. Timely, scientifically substantiated development of professional duty among students – future representatives of professions of the “person-to-person” type (P2P) will increase the level of professional responsibility of employees and the quality of the work they perform, as well as reduce high personnel turnover and professional burnout. The authors performed the study of the ideas about professional duty among future representatives of socionomic professions: police, medical and psychology students of the last year of study. The revealed psychological characteristics of the ideas of professional duty among students and cadets will allow developing recommendations for its development in each specific group.

Keywords: Life prospectsresponsibilityprofessional dutysocionomic professions

Introduction

The wide spread of socionomic type professions in modern society has led to the fact that the requirements for the representatives of these professions are constantly changing. The reforms of recent years have affected many areas where the representatives of socionomic professions work (healthcare, police, education). The problem of high personnel turnover, insufficient motivation of employees, understaffing is extremely relevant especially in the regions. The problem is not only in financial incentives, but also in the professional relevance of the occupied professional position (Zotova, 2017). Although professional duty is important and necessary in all areas, namely in professions that are directly related to communicating with other people, this issue acquires national significance, since their work directly affects the development of the country (Ermolaeva, 2011).

Problem Statement

The activities of the representatives of socionomic professions should be aimed at the achievement of socially important ideals: health, quality education, high quality of life, public law and order, well-being and security of citizens (Kondratyeva, 2017). Since the recent reforms have led to large changes in the personnel of many socionomic professions, the question of the requirements for their representatives has become especially acute (Mironova, 2012). The current situation is characterized by high requirements for therepresentatives of these professions (personal characteristics, level of knowledge, professional competence and others), on the one hand, and high personnel turnover, on the other (Volodin, 2016).

In our opinion, one of the ways to solve this problem is to identify the characteristics of professional duty as a fundamental characteristic of socionomic professions at the stage of vocational training with a view to its development. Timely, scientifically substantiated development of professional duty among students – future representatives of professions of the “person-to-person” type (P2P) will increase the level of professional responsibility of employees and the quality of the work they perform, as well as reduce high personnel turnover and professional burnout (Lavrov, 2013).

Research Questions

The subject of study is the psychological structure of professional duty, as well as the conditions for its formation among students of socionomic professions: police officers, doctors, psychologists.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the research is to study the ideas about professional duty among future representatives of socionomic professions: police, medical and psychology students of the last year of study. The identification of the psychological characteristics of the ideas of professional duty among students will allow developing recommendations for its development.

Research Methods

The study used a theoretical analysis of sources on the research problem and questionnaires. In order to study the ideas about professional duty among students of a socionomic profile professions, the Professional Duty questionnaire, consisting of four blocks, was developed.

Findings

Professional duty is an internal system of qualities, the main in content and complex in its execution, for a person employed in a certain profession (Mironova, 2014).

The concept of “professional duty” includes qualities that can conditionally be divided into three groups: social (such as self-esteem, service to society, self-awareness, social identification, etc.), professional (altruism, desire to help, human decency, exactingness etc.), and individual (tactful behavior, mental and physical stress tolerance, self-confidence, self-control, etc.) (Isaev, 2013).

The basic ideas about professional duty are laid long before the implementation of this professional activity and are manifested in relation to the educational process, to friends, to profession, to the homeland and one's mission (Umnyashova et al., 2016).

The Professional Duty questionnaire has four blocks:

Block 1 – Understanding of professional duty;

Block 2 – Functions of professional duty;

Block 3 – Knowledge about famous people;

Block 4 – Attitude to professional duty (Otradinskaya & Mironova, 2017).

The representations of professional duty among students of socionomic professions have pronounced features.

Under the professional duty, most psychology, medical police students understand a duty and responsibility of a person (83, 66 and 73 %, respectively), in addition, 27 % of police students understand it as a service to people and the moral of a profession.

The students were given a list of qualities and it was necessary to choose the qualities characterizing a person, ready to perform professional duty. This list included the following qualities: kindness, perseverance, honor, diligence, patriotism, responsiveness, conscience, disinterestedness, decency, decisiveness, honesty, integrity, self-criticism, dedication, commitment, discipline, exactingness, punctuality, responsibility, courage, organization, sociability, diligence, empathy, fidelity to the word, independence, perseverance, hard work, kindness.

87 % of police students, 93 % of psychology students and 83 % of medical students identified chose responsibility. In addition, it is interesting that psychology students and medical students identified responsibility as the first most important quality of a person that affects the integrity of professional duty. For most police students, this quality was diligence.

The vast majority of psychology students (87 %) and police students (80 %) agree with the statement that professional duty is a manifestation of devotion and love for their profession, medical students are much less likely to agree with this statement (only 50 %).

Police students distinguish only their own desire (67 %) and the desire to help people (33 %) as factors influencing the formation of professional duty. Psychological students are also mainly driven by their own desire (60 %), as well as the values of the group (20 %) and the desire to help people (20 %). Medical students have a completely different, diverse opinion. They are equally motivated by their own desire and desire to help people (33 % each), as well as the values of the group (14 %), the prestige of the profession and the opportunity to earn money (10 % each).

All three groups state that professional duty must be performed disinterestedly and see the impact of professional duty on the education of an individual (moreover, medical students in both matters share this opinion to a less extent).

In the second block, even more significant differences are obtained regarding the functions of professional debt. Thus, the greatest confidence that they will be able to realize their life prospect is demonstrated by medical students (63 %), the least by psychologists (7 %) (police students – 53 %). Psychology students basically just hope that they will be able to realize their life prospects (73 %). The greatest confidence and hope regarding their future profession have medical students. Every fifth future policeman connects his life prospects with other activities (Figure 01 ).

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For the majority of the respondents, professional duty is necessary in order to develop professionally (67 % among psychologists, 57 % among police officers and 53 % among doctors). 33 % of police cadets and 20 % of psychology students see the meaning of professional duty in social approval, another 7 % of psychologists and 17 % of medical students associate professional duty and self-confidence.

In the third block, it was necessary to name a famous person who performed his professional duty. It is interesting that police students (60 %) are more aware of famous people in their profession. Medical workers named the representatives of their profession in 47 % of cases, psychology students in only 13 % of cases. For 70 % of psychology students, this question was difficult, and they did not name anyone at all.

In the fourth block, “Attitude towards Professional Duty,” all the respondents showed a good attitude to professional duty. When it was fulfilled, most of them have high spirits. However, in this block, the groups showed significant differences among themselves.

Speaking about the reasons why they can neglect the performance of professional duty, the overwhelming majority in all three groups indicate their physical condition (73 % of psychology students, 60 % of medical students and 53 % of police students). Significantly more often, 33 % of future police officers indicate personal hostility toward a person, compared to 17 % among psychology students and 17 % among medical students. An interesting and alarming relationship between mood and professional duty is demonstrated by 6 % of medical students (Table 01 ).

High willingness to fulfill professional duty even with negative consequences for themselves is demonstrated by medical students (53 %). 33 % of police students are ready and another 47 % find it difficult to answer. Psychology students are the most careful with respect to themselves – only one out of ten shows such readiness, 57 % find it difficult to answer, 33 % are not ready to fulfill their professional duty with negative consequences for themselves.

Thus, the features in ideas about professional duty among future representatives of socionomic professions are identified. The differences obtained are interestingly determined by the contingent of students, and possible problems that they may encounter in the further implementation of professional activities. Thus, it can be assumed that psychology students are unsure of their choice, respectively, they attach greater importance to external circumstances when performing professional duties.

Police students are more responsible in fulfilling their professional duty, however, it can be assumed that in many respects these are not their internal motives, but rather the outwardly formulated values that are formed during their learning process, and, unfortunately, are not always internalized into their beliefs (Dubov, 2012; Shadrin, 2014). Medical students in the definition of professional duty expressed their attitude in two ways: on the one hand, they also associated professional duty with responsibility; on the other hand, they showed the lowest commitment to the profession.

Conclusion

In psychology, the problem of professional duty began to develop relatively recently. Basically, when it comes to duty, military professions are studied. The “peaceful” professions of the socionomic profile are studied not so often, although professionalism is no less important in these professions.

The comparison of the representatives of different professions of a socionomic profile allows presenting the psychological characteristics of the professional duty for each group. The professional duty of both students is affected by the motives for choosing a profession, group values and personal orientation. The professional duty of psychology and medical students, as well as future police officers, is related to the differences in the manifestation of the components of its psychological structure, such as moral and ethical responsibility, stress tolerance, self-confidence, exactingness, altruism, helping people, and serving society. The revealed differences can be used as a theoretical basis for the development of corrective methods aimed at the development of professional duty.

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