Abstract
Objectives: Elder abuse affects approximately one in six older adults globally but remains underreported and understudied in the context of digital health. Although technologies such as telehealth, virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), and mobile technologies have emerging applications in elder abuse research, the evolution and conceptual structure of this field remain unclear. This study aimed to scientometrically map the intersection of elder abuse and digital health research, identify major research themes and emerging technologies, and highlight knowledge gaps and future research directions.
Design: A scientometric analysis of the scientific literature using quantitative bibliometric indicators and network-based visualization techniques.
Setting(s): The Web of Science Core Collection database; no clinical or care setting was involved.
Participants: No human participants were enrolled. The unit of analysis consisted of scientific publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. Records were eligible if they were English-language original research articles addressing elder abuse or neglect in relation to digital health.
Outcome Measures: Publication trends, research clusters, keyword co-occurrence, international and institutional collaboration patterns, citation patterns, and emerging research themes and technologies were assessed.
Methods: The search strategy combined the terms “elder abuse” or “neglect” with “digital health” across all fields. A total of 3,500 records meeting the eligibility criteria were included. CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used to generate co-occurrence maps, collaboration networks, citation analyses, and citation-burst visualizations to examine thematic clusters, research evolution, and influential contributors. The analysis followed Chen’s scientometric approach, integrating quantitative bibliometric indicators with qualitative interpretation of network structures and thematic evolution.
Results: Seven major research clusters were identified, including mixed-method pilot studies, abuse-related services, community-based surveys, and scoping reviews. The most prominent keywords were abuse, prevalence, risk factors, and neglect. Telehealth, VR, and AI emerged as relatively recent and growing areas of research, indicating an increasing shift toward technology-enabled approaches to elder abuse prevention, education, screening, and intervention.
Conclusions: Elder abuse research remains predominantly focused on traditional epidemiological themes, while digital health is an emerging and increasingly important area. Greater international collaboration and investment in user-centred, ethically sound, and evidence-informed digital technologies are needed to strengthen prevention, early detection, and intervention and to support equitable strategies for safeguarding older adults.