Background: Individual protective behaviors play an important role in the control of the spread of infectious diseases. This study aimed to investigate the adoption of protective behaviors by Chinese citizens amid the COVID-19 outbreak and its associated factors.Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted from 22 January to 14 February 2020 through Wenjuanxing platform, measuring their knowledge, risk perception, negative emotion, response to official communication, and protective behaviors in relation to COVID-19. A total of 3008 people completed the questionnaire, of which 2845 were valid questionnaires.Results: On average, 71% of respondents embraced protective behaviors. Those who made no error in the knowledge test (AOR = 1.77,p < 0.001) perceived the high severity of the epidemic (AOR = 1.90,p < 0.001), had high negative emotion (AOR = 1.36,p = 0.005), reported good health (AOR = 1.94,p < 0.001), paid high attention to the governmental media (AOR = 4.16,p < 0.001) and trusted the governmental media (AOR = 1.97,p < 0.001) were more likely to embrace protective behaviors after adjustments for variations in potential confounding factors. Women and older people were also more likely to embrace protective behaviors. No regional or educational differences were found in the adoption of protective behaviors.Conclusion: The majority of Chinese citizens embraced protective behaviors. Higher levels of protective behaviors are associated with higher knowledge, perceived severity, negative emotion, and attention to and trust in the official governmental media. Official governmental communication is the largest single predictor of protective behaviors.

Objectives To determine the prevalence of workplace violence that Chinese nurses have encountered, identify risk factors and provide a basis for future targeted interventions. Setting Heilongjiang, a province in northeast China. Methods A cross-sectional survey. Participants A total of 588 nurses provided data. There were also in-depth interviews with 12 nurses, 7 hospital administrators and 6 health officials. Results A total of 7.8% of the nurses reported physically violent experiences and 71.9% reported non-physically violent experiences in the preceding year. Perpetrators were patients or their relatives (93.5% and 82%, respectively), and 24% of nurses experienced non-physical violence that involved Yi Nao (gangs specifically targeting hospitals). Inexperienced nurses were more likely to report physical (13.2%) or non-physical (89.5%) violence compared with experienced nurses. Graduate-level nurses were more likely to perceive and report non-physical violence (84.6%). Nurses who worked rotating shifts were 3.668 times (95% CI 1.275 to 10.554) more likely to experience physical violence, and 1.771 times (95% CI 1.123 to 2.792) more likely to experience non-physical violence compared with nurses who worked fixed day shifts. Higher anxiety levels about workplace violence and work types were associated with violence. Interviewees perceived financial burdens, unsatisfactory treatment outcomes and miscommunications as influencing factors for workplace violence. Conclusions Preplacement education should focus on high-risk groups to reduce workplace violence. Increased awareness from the public and policymakers is necessary to develop effective control strategies at individual, hospital and national levels.

This research aimed to determine the prevalence of workplace violence (WPV) against healthcare workers, explore the frequency distribution of violence in different occupational groups, and determine which healthcare occupation suffers from WPV most frequently. Furthermore, the current study aimed to compare risk factors affecting different types of WPV in Chinese hospitals. A cross-sectional design was utilized. A total of 1899 healthcare workers from Heilongjiang, a province in Northeastern China, completed the questionnaire. Of the respondents, 83.3% reported exposure to workplace violence, and 68.9% reported non-physical violence. Gender, education, shift work, anxiety level, and occupation were significantly correlated with physical violence (p < 0.05 for all correlations). Additionally, age, professional title, and occupation were correlated with non-physical violence, which critically affected doctors. Thus, gender, age, profession, anxiety, and shift work were predictive of workplace violence toward healthcare workers. Doctors appeared to experience non-physical workplace violence with particularly higher frequency when compared to nurses and other workers in hospitals. For healthcare workers, interventions aimed at WPV reduction should be enacted according to the types of violence, profession, and other factors underlying the various types of WPV in hospitals.

A cross-sectional survey of healthcare professionals from 19 hospitals in six cities of Heilongjiang Province, China was conducted. This study had two objectives: (1) to examine the factors influencing healthcare workers’ opinions of strategies to prevent workplace violence, using social support theory, and (2) to encourage healthcare organisations and the larger society to offer greater support to healthcare workers. The respondents exposed to workplace violence expected to receive organisational and social support. Those exposed to psychological violence had a strong opinion of the need for target training to strengthen their competence in responding to violence (OR = 1.319, 95% CI: 1.034–1.658) and enacting workplace violence legislation (OR = 1.968, 95% CI: 1.523–2.543).Those exposed to physical violence thought it might be useful to reinforce staff with back-up support (OR = 3.101, 95% CI: 1.085–8.860). Those exposed to both types of violence and those with high anxiety levels need greater support at both the organisational and societal levels.

People with chronic non-communicable diseases (NCD) are particularly vulnerable to socioeconomic inequality due to their long-term expensive health needs. This study aimed to assess socioeconomic-related inequality in health service utilization among NCD patients in China and to analyze factors associated with this disparity. Data were taken from the 2008 Chinese National Health Survey, in which a multiple stage stratified random sampling method was employed to survey 56,456 households. We analyzed the distribution of actual use, need-expected use, and need-standardized usage of outpatient services (over a two-week period) and inpatient services (over one-year) across different income groups in 27,233 adult respondents who reported as having a NCD. We used a concentration index to measure inequality in the distribution of health services, which was expressed as HI (Horizontal Inequity Index) for need-standardized use of services. A non-linear probit regression model was employed to detect inequality across socio-economic groups. Pro-rich inequity in health services among NCD patients was more substantial than the average population. A higher degree of pro-rich inequity (HI = 0.253) was found in inpatient services compared to outpatient services (HI = 0.089). Despite a greater need for health services amongst those of lower socio-economic status, their actual use is much less than their more affluent counterparts. Health service underuse by the poor and overuse by the affluent are evident. Household income disparity was the greatest inequality factor in NCD service use for both outpatients (71.3%) and inpatients (108%), more so than health insurance policies. Some medical insurance schemes, such as the MIUE, actually made a pro-rich contribution to health service inequality (16.1% for outpatient and 12.1% for inpatient). Inequality in health services amongst NCD patients in China remains largely determined by patient financial capability. The current insurance schemes are insufficient to address this inequity. A comprehensive social policy that encompasses a more progressive taxation package and redistribution of social capital as well as pro-poor welfare is needed.

From 1990 to 2019, the age-standardized incidence rate of nutritional deficiencies in China remained stable. However, the age-standardized disability-adjusted life-years (DALY) rate of nutritional deficiencies decreased from 1990 to 2019. Data were extracted from the GBD 2019 datasets. Estimated annual percentage changes (EAPCs) were calculated to assess the incidence rate, and DALY trends of nutritional deficiencies. Measures were stratified by subtypes, regions, and age groups. In 2019, the age-standardized DALY rates of dietary iron deficiency and protein-energy malnutrition reached their highest levels. The main population groups with protein-energy malnutrition and dietary iron deficiency were adults over the age of 70 and children under the age of five. The latter group also had a greater burden of vitamin A deficiency. Zhejiang, Beijing, and Guangdong reported the highest age-standardized incidence rates of nutritional deficiencies, which mainly pertained to protein-energy malnutrition and vitamin A deficiency. Tibet, Xinjiang, and Hainan had the highest age-standardized DALY rates of nutritional deficiencies, which mainly pertained to dietary iron deficiency and protein-energy malnutrition.