Health literacy in childhood and adolescence. A bibliometric analysis of scientific publications and professionals’ involvement

Background: Health Literacy (HL) is a powerful tool to empower children and adolescents in their own health. School nurses are the professionals who, with their expertise in health promotion and education, can facilitate this literacy throughout the educational process. Purpose: To analyze the scientific production in HL in childhood and adolescence in the last two decades, and to determine the involvement of professionals in this field, with emphasis on nursing professionals. Methods: A bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature (from 2000 to 2021) of articles retrieved from the Web of Science database was carried out. Original articles in all languages were considered as inclusion criteria. Bibliometrix 3.1.4 package from RStudio and VOSviewer were used to analyze publications and explain main results about citations, authors, countries, keywords trends, evolution, clusters of related terms, and professionals’ involvement. Results: A total of 2032 articles were included in the analysis. The results of the analysis showed that both publications and citations increased substantially since 2014. The most prolific authors in this field are not the most cited so far. The countries that published the most during the period evaluated were the United States, Australia and Canada. The keyword clusters identified in this scientometric study made it possible to determine hotspots in the study of HL in childhood and adolescence, with “mental health” being one of the main terms identified. There are different health-related professionals who are publishing in this field; in spite of this, nurses are not visible as authors in the publications. Conclusion: The scientific literature on HL in childhood and adolescence is a growing field in which different professionals are involved. Despite the increase in the number of publications, and despite the role that nurses play in schools regarding HL, their presence in scientific production is practically nonexistent.

This work was supported by DOTSS University Chair [193/2017].