Abstract:

Objective To make a macroscopic summary and hot spot analysis of the international research results of informal care,so as to provide reference for the research in related fields in China. Methods The research progress of informal care was analyzed based on Web of Science core database. Bicomb 2.0 was used to extract high-frequency keywords in recent 5 years and used to generate text matrix,gCluto 1.0 software was used for double cluster analysis and visual display. Results A total of 6 311 literatures were included,and the annual volume of papers increased year by year. Totally 71 countries and 5 028 institutions have participated in the relevant research,covering 81 research areas. A total of 3 091 articles published from 2015 to 2019. There were six hotspots,including home care,economic evaluation,quality of care,primary health care,caregiver burden and palliative care. Conclusion The research of informal care is steady and diverse. Chinese nursing scholars can learn from international experience and rely on interdisciplinary cooperation to promote the construction of informal care system for the older adults considering our national conditions.

Key words: Elderly, Bibliometrics, Informal care, Co-word analysis, Research hotspot