Socio-demographic factors and the quality of life of those involved in the hostilities in Ukraine

The ongoing war in Ukraine has led to mass migrations of people, a destabilization of social institutions, and restricted access to basic life resources, which undermines the conditions for maintaining quality of life (QOL). The paper aims to identify the determinants QOL in four domains: physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environment. The survey was carried out in 2019 amongst 314 adults displaced from the Donbas and living in central and western Ukraine. We used quantitative measures based on the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire and performed multiple regression analysis. The regression analysis revealed that savings significantly predicted QOL in three domains (physical, psychological, and environment, whereas self-perceived material security played a key role in the domain social relationships domain. Other significant predictors were gender, place of residence, and distance from hostilities (for physical health), continuation of education (for environment), and health insurance (for psychological health and environment). The results suggest the need to redefine humanitarian support towards actions enabling not only survival but also the maintenance of social and psychological functioning. Special attention should be devoted to enhancing cross-domain resources (e.g., savings), access to institutional structures (education, insurance), and subjective sense of security as protective factors for QOL in wartime conditions.