Social and communicative adaptation of first-year students at a medical university

Abstract

Aim. The article is devoted to the analysis of social and communicative of first-year students at a medical university. The aim was to generalize and systematize scientific views on adaptation of first-year students, highlight the criteria for student adaptation, substantiate the prospects for further research.Material and methods. The use of methods for studying scientific and methodological literature, evaluating information obtained during theoretical analysis, comparison, grouping of data, generalization, made it possible to form the original questionnaire "Assessment of socio-communicative adaptation of first-year students in a medical university." The study involved 338 first-year full-time and part-time students of the Volgograd State Medical University.Results. The theoretical analysis of literature made it possible to identify the features of the functioning of a first-year student at a medical university, to substantiate the social and communicative adaptation of the individual as a necessary condition for the formation of a future specialist.The role of mental health of an individual in the process of achieving the necessary level of adaptation in the conditions of the educational process of the medical university is indicated. We have explicated the external and internal criteria for the adaptation of a university student, on the basis of which a questionnaire was compiled. The survey of students, the interpretation of the data obtained indicates both positive results and the fact that many first-year students question their academic success at the beginning of their studies and note their insufficient home preparation, as well as lack of time for various extracurricular activities.Conclusion. Socio-cultural adaptation of a first-year student is a long multifactorial process of changing the nature of connections, the student’s attitude to the content and organization of the educational process in a medical university. On the other hand, modern professional standards require a high level of communicative competence formation from a specialist. The relationship between the academic performance of a student and the degree of adaptation in the specific conditions of the pedagogical process at a medical university is revealed. We consider the development of a student community model with the involvement of professional psychologists to organize psychosocial assistance to maladjusted students as a prospect for the study.

Keywords

• adaptation
• maladaptation
• social and communicative adaptation
• internal psychological adaptation
• communication skills
• first-year students
• medical university