Gap in protective behaviors between Han and minority ethnicities during COVID-19 pandemic in rural western China: A decomposition analysis.

Understanding the ethnic gap in protective behavior and its explanatory factors is a promising step for reducing pandemic-induced disparities. However, no studies have endeavored to identify the factors contributing to a gap in protective behaviors between Han and minority ethnicities during COVID-19 pandemic in rural China. We aimed to analyze the gap in protective behaviors between Han and minority residents in rural China. We conducted cross-sectional studies in multi-ethnic rural China in 2020. A total of 1640 participants from Han and minority groups were invited to participate. The decomposition method was applied to analyze the gap in protective behaviors and its associated factors between the Han and minority groups. Participants in the Han group had a higher protective behavioral score (9.26 ± 1.20) than the minority group (8.97 ± 1.50), yielding a significant gap in protective behaviors between Han and minority ethnicities of 0.29. Socio-demographic characteristics, health status, the degree of knowledge held about COVID-19, and psychological responses to COVID-19 explained 79.3 % (0.23/0.29) of the behavioral gap between the Han and minority groups. The difference in household asset levels was the largest explained contributor to the behavioral gap (52.17 %) (0.12/0.23), followed by fear felt for COVID-19 (-21.74 %) (-0.05/0.23). Differences in educational attainment, degree of knowledge held about COVID-19, and self-efficacy in response to COVID-19 each explained 17.4 % (0.04/0.23) of the behavioral gap. In conclusion, Han group show greater protective behaviors than minority ethnic groups. To drive better protective behavior in the most vulnerable communities, targeted, group-specific COVID-19 preventative messages deployed in public health communication strategies is suggested to enhance individual confidence in coping with the pandemic while creating a healthy amount of fear for public health crisis.