Motherland or home country - A comparative study of quality of life among Jews from the former Soviet Union who immigrated to Israel, Jews in Russia,and Israeli nonimmigrants

The present study's aim was to compare health-related quality of life (QoL) as measured by the SF-36 between 51 Jews from the former Soviet Union who immigrated to Israel between 3 and 8 years ago (Group I)and 52 Jews who cur rently live in Russia (Group 2). Both were compared to a matched control gr oup of 49 veteran Jewish nonimmigrant Israelis (Group 3). The results showe d few differences between Group 1 and Group 2. However, both groups scored significantly lower than Group 3 on five of the eight subscales on the SF-3 6. It was concluded that Russian Jews who had immigrated to Israel did not differ significantly with regard to QoL compared to those who stayed behind in Russia and that more than 8 years are needed to reach the level of vete ran Israelis who enjoy better QoL than both Jews in Russia and former Russi ans who immigrated to Israel.