Knowledge structure in nursing research on infection control: application of topic modeling

Given the increasing emphasis on infection control, a comprehensive analysis of nursing research is essential for mapping prevalent scholarly themes, thereby identifying the thematic priorities and evolving knowledge structures that underpin optimized infection control strategies.

This study aimed to identify meaningful concepts and trends in infection control and expand the scope of research with new insights.

This exploratory study utilized Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling to identify research trends over time. A total of 2,651 papers published between 1974 and 2022 were retrieved from nine databases, including PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus.

Topic modeling identified four core themes, led by epidemiological investigation at 33.82% and infection control leadership at 24.06%, both of which emerged as hot topics with significantly increasing trends. Hygiene management of vulnerable subjects at 22.06% and transmission route blocking at 20.06% were identified as Cold topics, showing a significant decline in research focus over the study period.

This study elucidates the multidimensional knowledge structure of infection control research in nursing at both micro and macro levels. The findings suggest that enhancing infection control implementation may be supported by addressing organizational factors, including leadership and professional supervision. Furthermore, these results underscore the potential for integrating epidemiological evidence into multifaceted nursing practices to strengthen infection control systems.