Attitudes Toward Psychotherapy Among Immigrant Russian-Speaking Jews From the Former Soviet Union

With immigrants and minorities less prone to commence counseling services, this study explored attitudes toward psychotherapy among immigrant Russian-speaking Jews living in the United States. A total of 211 individuals who self-identified as Jewish and as having personally emigrated from the former Soviet Union (henceforth referred to as Russian-speaking Jews for the purposes of this study) took the Beliefs About Psychological Services (BAPS) scale, a three-factor (Intent, Stigma Tolerance, Expertness), 18-item measure, assessing attitudes toward psychotherapeutic services. Exploratory results reveal that Russian-speaking Jewish men report less favorable BAPS scores than women, and that in general BAPS scores in the current Russian-speaking Jewish sample tend to be less favorable than those reported in previous research using the BAPS. Participants who attended school in the United States tended to express more favorable attitudes than those who attended school outside the United States. Results and implications are discussed.