A Citespace-based analysis of research hotspots and trend in virtual reality assisted pain management
Objective To investigate the research hotspots and trend in pain management with virtual reality from 2013 to 2023 therefore to provide nursing administrators and researchers with insights into leveraging information technology and to improve nursing quality.Methods Literatures in virtual reality and pain management were retrieved from the Web of Science core collection and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases.Bibliometric analysis using CiteSpace software were conducted to examine the trend of annual publications,countries and institutions of the authors,leading authors,cited journals and cluster keywords.The researched time was from January 2013 to September 2023.Results A total of 2 503 English and 328 Chinese articles were included.It was found that the publications in relevant topics were on the rise annually in number and peaked twice in 2014 and 2020.Some authors from different institutions conducted certain level of collaborations in the researches.The journal Pain received the highest citations.Eight cluster keywords were identified:rehabilitation,virtual screening,distraction,quality of life,surgery,phantom limb pain,social pain and virtual reality.Four research hotspots were summarised,including current application of VR technology in pain management,application effect and research in rehabilitation,research in innovation of VR technology and personalised mental health interventions.Conclusions Research about VR technology in pain management is growing with technological advancements and policy supports.However,collaborations should be further improved between the scholars from different institutions.The domestic research emerged relatively behind the foreign institutions.Future studies should focus on intervention trials of virtual reality,particularly its impact on different participants groups and its role in rehabilitation.Innovative technical methods and personalised and accurate pain management strategies are crucial for promotion of the advanced VR technology in pain management.