Study of individual adaptive potential and its physiological correlates inrescue firefighters

Abstract

Relevance: the problem of human adaptation acts as a link in interdisciplinary research. Purpose of work: analysis of the relationship between the psychological and physiological parameters of the adaptive potential and the state of the body in rescue firefighterswith different length of service. Materials and methods: 235 male rescue firefighters aged 25 to 45 years with a service record of 1 to 22 years took part in the study. All subjects were divided into three groups depending on the length of service. For psychodiagnostic evaluation, the adaptability questionnaire was used. The objective physiological criteria for the state of the organism were the indicator of the adequacy of the regulatory processes and the stress index of the “Heart rate variability” method. Results: in the structure of personal adaptive potential, neuropsychic resistance among rescue firefighters of all groups corresponded to high values at the beginning of the shift with a slight decrease by the end of the shift. The adequacy of the regulatory processes and the stress index at the beginning of the shift reflected more pronounced vagal influences in groups with 1–6 and 16–22 years of service compared to the group of 7–15 years of work. At the end of the shift, an increase in parasympathetic activity was found in all groups. Correlation analysis revealed statistically significant relationships between psychodiagnostic and electrophysiological parameters in individuals with experience from 7 years to 22 years. Conclusions: in the groups of experienced rescue firefighters, a more pronounced correspondence of the self-assessment of the level of personal adaptive potential with physiological correlates was revealed compared with less experienced ones.

Keywords

• individual adaptive potential
• neuro-psychic stability
• heart rate variability
• rescue firefighters