PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS A BASIC FACTOR OF PROFESSIONAL EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIONOMIC SPECIALISTS

Abstract

The article presents the results of a theoretical and empirical study of professional identity as an important factor in the professional effectiveness of socionomic specialists whose professional activity involves intensive interpersonal interaction and the provision of psychological, social, educational, and counseling assistance. Professional identity is conceptualized as an integrative psychological construct that combines cognitive, emotional-value, behavioral, social, and personal components and determines specialists’ awareness of their professional role, boundaries of responsibility, and value orientations. The study was conducted using an author-developed questionnaire among socionomic professionals with different lengths of professional experience. The results revealed statistically significant positive relationships between the level of professional identity formation, self-assessment of professional effectiveness, job satisfaction, and the ability to maintain professional boundaries, as well as negative relationships with indicators of professional burnout and emotional exhaustion. It was found that an increase in professional experience is associated with greater clarity of professional identity and a reduction in manifestations of emotional exhaustion, which confirms its role as a resource of professional resilience. Correlation analysis showed that the strongest associations with indicators of professional effectiveness were observed for such components of professional identity as clarity of professional self-determination, ability to maintain professional boundaries, acceptance of one’s professional shortcomings, and belonging to a professional community. This allows professional identity to be considered an important psychological resource for preventing professional burnout and improving the quality of professional activity. The practical significance of the study lies in substantiating the feasibility of targeted development of professional identity among socionomic specialists through self-reflection, supervision, professional mentoring, and support from the professional community in order to enhance professional effectiveness and maintain psychological well-being.