The problem of forming the readiness of future social workers for socio-psychological work with vulnerable categories of the population in the scientific space

The article analyzes the current state of development of the problem of forming the readiness of future social workers for socio-psychological work with vulnerable categories of the population in the scientific space. It is established that the concepts of «training», «readiness», «readiness of future social workers for sociopsychological work» are subordinate to each other, but have a semantic difference: training is a purposeful process of providing and obtaining the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities that determine readiness for professional activity; readiness is a physical and psychological state that precedes the realization of one’s own strengths, ideas, knowledge, skills and abilities; readiness of future social workers for socio-psychological work is a psychological state, a purposeful process and the result of training future specialists for professional activity in the field of sociopsychological work. Attention is focused on the rapid growth of vulnerable categories of the population in Ukraine as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war – internally displaced persons, persons with disabilities, combatants, war veterans, children of deceased combatants, etc., which emphasizes the relevance of the topic of our research. It is concluded that, despite the sufficient number of works devoted to the preparation of future social workers for professional activity, the problem of forming the readiness of future social workers to work with vulnerable categories of the population is currently poorly researched, and therefore requires development at the scientific, theoretical and practical levels.