ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In the face of a sudden outbreak of COVID-19, it is essential to promote health communication, especially to reduce communication inequality. The paper targeted China to investigate whether social structural factors (education level and urban-rural differences) lead to the knowledge gap of COVID-19. Also, this paper examined whether media use, interpersonal communication, public communication, and perceived salience of information can influence the knowledge gap of COVID-19. Furthermore, this paper explored the strategies to promote communication equality. METHODS: An online survey on COVID-19 knowledge and its influencing factors was conducted in February 2020, with a valid sample of 981 participants. The dependent variable was the total score of knowledge related to COVID-19. In addition to demographic variables such as education level and residence, the main explanatory variables include four independent variables: the use of different media (print media, radio, television, Internet), interpersonal communication, public communication, and perceived salience of information. This paper utilized descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis for data processing. RESULTS: Descriptive statistics indicated that the Internet was the most frequent source of information for participants to obtain COVID-19 knowledge (M = 6.28, SD = 1.022). Bi-variate analysis and regression analysis presented that education level, Internet media use, and perceived salience of information predicted the difference in knowledge level. Hierarchical multiple regression showed that Internet media use significantly predicted differences in the level of knowledge related to COVID-19 among groups with different education levels. CONCLUSIONS: This study found a COVID-19 knowledge gap among the Chinese public, especially the digital knowledge gap. Education level, perceived salience of information, and internet media use can significantly predict the difference in COVID-19 knowledge level. In contrast, the use of traditional media such as newspaper, radio, and television, public communication, and interpersonal communication did not improve knowledge level. Internet media use and education level have an interactive effect on the formation of a COVID-19 knowledge gap. That is, online media use will expand the COVID-19 knowledge gap between groups with different education levels.