Theme trends and knowledge structure on health communication: Bibliometric analysis in PubMed database

Abstract

Health communication is a new field focusing on the “powerful role” of human and media communication in health care services and health promotion. This study intends to explore the intellectual structure of knowledge in health communication literature using the co-word analysis technique. The applied descriptive-analytical method was used in this study to analyze the literature content with a hierarchical clustering approach. For data collection, the descriptors of the keyword “Health Communication” were searched in the medical subject heading (MeSH) in the PubMed database on November 18, 2021, for the period of 1959–2021. Data analysis and clustering were performed using SPSS software (version 20), RavarPremap software, Excell, Ucinet and VosViewer software. Data analysis indicates that scientific articles on communication health have experienced ascending growth pattern. Moreover, the findings on hierarchical clustering led to the formation of six subject clusters with the predominant subjects of " COVID-19 Pandemic, Health Education & Vaccine Hesitancy." The present study revealed a structural relationship among subject concepts in the clusters created with common features within each group. This study provided valuable insights into scientific communication patterns in health communication research produced in the PubMed database.