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The impact of physical activity to the child's quality of life: a bibliometric study
Jernej Završnik1, Peter Kokol2, Helena Blažun Vošner1,3
1Community Healthcare Center Dr. Adolf Drolc Maribor, Maribor, 2000, Slovenia.
Insights
Bibliometric mapping reveals key research trends on physical activity and children's quality of life. This study outlines distinct research phases and topics, aiding pediatricians in understanding the field.
Area of Science:
- Bibliometrics
- Healthcare Research
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Bibliometrics is increasingly used in healthcare research, but remains under-explored.
- This study applies bibliometric mapping to visualize research on physical activity's impact on children's quality of life.
Purpose of the Study:
- To visualize and analyze the landscape of research concerning physical activity and children's quality of life.
- To identify distinct research phases, key topics, and hidden associations within this field.
Main Methods:
- Utilized bibliometric mapping to create chronological and cluster science landscapes.
- Science landscapes were employed to capture topic relationships and generate "synthetic reviews".
Main Results:
- Identified three evolutionary research phases: chronic diseases, quality of life/childhood diseases, and outcome-related research.
- Six main research topics emerged: asthma and exercise, blood diseases, health-related quality of life, obesity and chronic diseases, childhood obesity and behavior, and depression and health outcomes.
Conclusions:
- Provides a taxonomy of topics, discoveries, and guidelines for pediatricians interested in physical activity and child quality of life.
- Uncovers subtle associations not readily apparent to researchers and clinicians.
Abstract:
Background: The application of bibliometrics in healthcare research is becoming popular, however at present it is still an under-researched area. Methods: In our study we used a bibliometric technique called bibliometric mapping to visualize the published research regarding the influence of physical activity to children's quality of life. The research was visualized in the form of both chronological and cluster science landscapes. Science landscapes, contrary to conventional reviews, capture the relationships between multiple topics and concepts, enabling the generation of "synthetic reviews". Results: Evolutionarily, three distinct research phases appeared, namely research on influence of physical activity on various chronic non-communicable diseases; research on quality of life and childhood diseases related to physical activity; and outcome-related research. The research consists of six main topics: asthmatic child and exercising, blood diseases, health-related quality of life, obesity and chronic diseases, childhood obesity and behaviour, and depression and health outcomes. Conclusions: The study identified some research that may be helpful to general paediatricians whose everyday practice or research is not focused on physical activity and child's quality of life, but wants to learn about the taxonomy of the topics, the most interesting discoveries, guidelines and practices and the state of the art in the field. It also revealed some hidden association, otherwise not easily identified, even by informed researchers and clinicians.