No 92 (2024)

Relevance. Smoking and alcohol consumption among women of reproductive age is a common phenomenon worldwide, including in Russia. In some cases, these behaviors continue during pregnancy, potentially exerting adverse effects on pregnancy outcomes. This underscores the need for enhanced diagnostic and preventive measures to discourage substance use and provide women with counseling or medical support.

Aim: To study the frequency and quantity of nicotine-containing product and alcohol consumption by women of reproductive age before pregnancy and during the prenatal period, as well as to assess their impact on pregnancy outcomes.

Methodology. The study involved 204 pregnant women – patients of the perinatal center in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. Psychometric methods were used: screening test for involvement in the use of alcohol, tobacco and psychoactive substances (ASSIST), method of retrospective assessment of daily volume of psychoactive substance consumption (TLFB). Medical records, obstetric history and indirect biomarkers of alcohol use: CDT, ALT and AST, as well as data on weight and condition of the newborns were reviewed. Statistical processing was carried out by studying the frequency distribution and contingency tables using the χ² criterion.

Results and analysis. A number of statistically significant relationships were identified between the risk levels of nicotine and alcohol use before and during pregnancy among the women who took part in the study. Smoking before pregnancy increased probability of continuing smoking during pregnancy by 4 times (OR = 4.0; 95 % CI: 2.3–6.8; p ≤ 0.001), and drinking alcohol before pregnancy increased probability of continuing alcohol use during pregnancy 5.5 times (OR=5.5; 95 % CI: 2.2– 13.8; p ≤ 0.001). A mutual influence of the use of these types of psychoactive substances was also found – smoking during pregnancy increased probability of drinking alcohol during pregnancy by 5.4 times (OR = 5.6; 95 % CI: 2.3–12.3; p ≤ 0.001), and smoking before pregnancy increased probability of drinking alcohol during pregnancy by 5.6 times (OR = 5.6; 95 % CI: 2.6–12.3; p ≤ 0.001).

Conclusion. The study of smoking and alcohol consumption among women of reproductive age before pregnancy and during the prenatal period using validated psychometric tools, confirmatory laboratory diagnostics, and comprehensive obstetric history analysis provides a robust foundation for developing methodological approaches to prevent adverse outcomes associated with substance use and their impact on pregnancy.

Relevance. The steady deterioration of psychological well-being in the modern world represents a pressing concern for specialists across various disciplines. Physical activity levels are recognized as one of the key factors influencing psychological health. Research findings highlight the positive impact of regular exercise on psychological resilience. However, the extent to which any form of physical activity – not only intense but also minimal yet regular – can influence psychological wellbeing remains poorly understood.

Objective. The purpose of the study is to assess the degree of interrelations between a person’s regular physical activity and his or her levels of anxiety and depression.

Materials and methods. A study of interrelations between the level of physical activity and the levels of anxiety, stress, depression, somatization and autonomic disorders was conducted with the participation of 106 people, men and women, aged 18 to 56 years. The level of physical activity of the study participants was determined by taking readings from the applications installed by the study participants on phones and fitness bracelets, and the average number of steps taken per day for the last week before the start of the study was calculated. The psychological state of the respondents was assessed using the following methods: integrative anxiety test (ITT) (to identify hidden, masked anxiety and anxiety), a four-dimensional questionnaire to assess distress, depression, anxiety and somatization (Dutch Four-Dimensional Symptoms Questionnaire, 4DSQ) (to identify psychogenic factors of the nervous system – assessment of distress, depression, anxiety and somatoform disorders), a clinical questionnaire of neurotic conditions (to identify the main syndromes of neurotic conditions). The relationship between the indicators was assessed using Spearman’s rank correlation method.

Results. The study revealed a statistically significant (p ≤ 0.01) negative correlation between the level of physical activity of a person and the level of situational and personal anxiety, stress, the level of somatization and autonomic disorders, as well as a significant (p ≤ 0.05) negative correlation between the level of regular physical activity and the level of depression. This pattern is relevant for all levels of regular physical activity for people of any age and gender.

Conclusion. The identified statistically significant (p ≤ 0.01) negative correlation between physical activity levels and situational and trait anxiety, stress, somatization, and autonomic disturbances, along with a significant (p ≤ 0.05) negative correlation with depression levels, indicates that lower levels of regular physical activity are associated with increased anxiety, stress responses, autonomic disturbances, somatization, and depression. These findings are relevant across all levels of regular physical activity. Moderate regular physical activity (7,500–10,000 steps per day) was associated with the absence of elevated parameters or pathological states.

Relevance. Simulation-based training is a new approach in medical education that allows for the training of necessary skills in a safe environment. However, the use of simulation technologies imposes increased demands on students’ adaptation and can lead to psychological issues related to the specific nature of the educational situation.

Objective. This study aims to investigate the features of and dynamics in medical students’ perceptions of simulation-based training across different academic years, as well as the factors influencing their adaptation.

Methodology. The study involved 173 students using focus group methodology.

Results and analysis. The adaptation of medical students to training with high-tech simulators depends on situational, interpersonal, organizational, and individual-psychological factors, which vary across academic years. The situational factor, related to the perception of simulation scenarios as unrealistic, has the most significant impact. The individual-psychological factor is most significant in the second year and least so in the sixth. The organizational factor increases in significance during the fourth to sixth years, reflecting students’ understanding of the necessity for simulation-based training. The interpersonal factor, which includes support from instructors and peers, showed no differences among students from different years of study.

Conclusion. The findings expand the understanding of the characteristics of simulation-based training and the adaptation of future physicians. Further investigation of these relationships could aid in the development of individualized approaches to simulation training and psychological support programs for medical students, including communication training.

Relevance. High demands for stress resilience in law enforcement officers, combined with the inherently social nature of their work, necessitate the identification of factors related to social stress that disrupt professional performance.

Intention – identification of differences in spectral and temporal heart rate indicators when presenting situations of interpersonal interaction among law enforcement officers with different levels of adaptation to stress.

Methodology. The study is aimed at determining of heart rate variability when presenting situations of interpersonal interaction in 249 law enforcement officers with different levels of adaptation to stress. At the first stage, 3 groups with different levels of adaptation to stress were identified due to spectral characteristics of the heart rate when presenting stimuli simulating emergency situations; At the second stage, physiological parameters were evaluated in the selected groups during the presentation of interpersonal interaction situations, including neutral, joyful and 4 conflict situations: isolated and prolonged with humiliation or physical threat.

Results and discussion. It was revealed that in persons with a low level of adaptation to stress, the presentation of interpersonal interaction situations leads to high tension in the cardiovascular activity, a low compensatory increase in the activity of the segmental and central divisions of the autonomic nervous system, accompanied by a violation of habituation to the stressful content and a higher sensitivity to the stressful effects of prolonged conflict situations than isolated ones.

Conclusion. The results enhance understanding of the factors underlying behavioral disruptions in conflict situations among law enforcement officers with varying levels of stress adaptation. These findings can be utilized for assessing personality-professional competencies in this population.

Relevance. The history of clinical (medical) psychology, despite its significance, remains an underdeveloped field of study. Globally, fewer than ten comprehensive monographs have been published on the topic, and in Russia, there is only one textbook dedicated to the discipline. Most of the historical narrative on medical psychology is scattered across individual articles, textbook chapters, and dissertations. This situation necessitates the creation of a coherent narrative capable of comprehensively reflecting the development of the discipline. According to the principle of historicism, this endeavor must begin with the origins of clinical psychology, which trace back to the late 19th century.

The aim is to identify the features of the historical development of Russian medical psychology in the pre–revolutionary period.

Methodology. To achieve this goal, comparative historical and bibliographic methods were used; the source base consisted of historiographical literature and the most significant publications on the topic of research from the end of the XIX century to 1917.

The results and their analysis. In the course of the study, it was found that domestic medical psychology arose in line with the last of the three directions of psychological research (philosophical, empirical and experimental) both in the context of the scientific struggle between these three trends, and in the broader context of the ideological and political confrontation in Russia. It is shown that it was created by Russian psychiatrists (V.M. Bekhterev, S.S. Korsakov, V.F. Chizh et al.) at the junction of medicine and psychology on the basis of an experimental method, in contrast to the method of introspection that dominated academic psychology at that time, and was of a pronounced applied nature. It is noted that in the course of its development in the specified time period, domestic medical psychology was characterized by both the introduction of foreign methods into experimental research and the creation of domestic ones, attempts were made to unify methods and techniques for studying the psyche of sick and healthy people, the methodological foundation of medical psychology was laid, the basic principles of building research of this kind were determined, significant empirical the material.

Conclusion. Despite these achievements, the development of medical psychology in prerevolutionary Russia was hindered by the absence of a psychological theory capable of explaining empirically obtained data. Up until the mid-20th century, this discipline – at least in Russia – remained descriptive rather than explanatory.