The thesis generalizes main tendencies and features of theory and practice of forming the legal culture (LC) of future Masters of Medicine in the process of professional training in higher medical educational institutions. It is emphasized that the specifics of LC of medical professionals is determined by professional environment, relationships with patients, moral and ethical norms and values. LC is a part of the professional training of future doctors. Within the framework of approaches to the concepts of understanding legal training, it was found out that LC, legal consciousness and legal education complement each other and are carried out on the basis of universal values, humanism, equality, justice, etc. The interconnection of legal consciousness and legal education contributes to the formation of not only the LC, but also the general culture of the individual, his/her moral qualities and life orientations. It is emphasized that LC is based on legal knowledge, personal and psychological qualities, moral and ethical values of future doctors, which form professional medical culture. It was concluded that LC of medical professionals is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. It was suggested the author’s interpretation of concept "legal culture of future Masters of Medicine" as the system of legal values, knowledge, skills, abilities of legal relations and conduct of future Masters of Medicine in order to apply them in future practical activity. The main features, content and structure of preparation for the LC of future Masters of Medicine in higher medical educational establishments of Ukraine were specified. The disciplines, in which LC of future Masters of Medicine is formed, namely: “Life Safety; Basics of Bioethics and Biosafety”, "Social Medicine, Public Health”, “Forensic Science. Medical Law of Ukraine”, “Occupational Health in the Field”, “Deontology in Medicine” were analyzed.
The structure of LC of Masters of Medicine represented by integration of three components, namely motivational-and-value, cognitive-activity and regulatory-reflexive, was defined. On the basis of the defined components, the criteria with the descriptors of LC (personal-axiological, cognitive-operative, evaluative) were defined. Three levels of LC formation of future Masters of Medicine (low, medium and high) were established.
In the process of theoretical analysis, pedagogical conditions have been identified and substantiated that will contribute to the successful formation of the LC of future Masters of Medicine: 1) ensuring the professional orientation of the content of legal training; 2) involvement of the student in active law-cognitive and law-enforcement activity of educational process by means of introduction of interactive educational technologies of management of cognitive activity; 3) the organization of a reflective environment of self-education of future medical professionals using modern computer technology. The author theoretically proved and experimentally verified the structural-and-functional model of the formation of LC of future Masters of Medicine in the process of vocational training. The model consists of purpose, methodological, content-procedural and evaluation-resultative blocks and contains the following components: the purpose, objectives, methodological approaches and principles, content of studying, pedagogical conditions, stages, forms and methods of studying, components, criteria and indicators, levels of LC formation, the result of the pedagogical process.
The experimental study was carried out in two stages: ascertaining and formative. At the ascertaining stage of the experiment, the analyzed groups were qualitatively homogeneous in terms of LC formation according to all criteria. The quantitative indicators of these groups did not differ significantly. It was found that after the formative phase of the study there were positive changes in both groups. In the control group, these changes were not significant, but in the experimental group, they led to a significant increase in the quality level of the group. The effectiveness of the structural and functional model of forming the LC of future Masters of Medicine have been confirmed. Methods of introduction of pedagogical conditions for the formation of LC of future Masters of Medicine were developed and implemented. The author’s practical methods were implemented over four consecutive stages – motivational-diagnostic, practical, creative and reflexive, which are developed cyclically in the course of the study of disciplines in general and professional medical law. The proposed author’s methods of pedagogical conditions’ realization, which were introduced in the course of interactive lectures, seminars, practical classes and self-education of future Masters of Medicine, proved their effectiveness and contributed to positive changes in the process of forming the LC of future Masters of Medicine.
