Research Hotspots and Trends of Gerontological Social Work in China

A Visual Analysis Based on CiteSpace

Abstract

With the deepening of aging in China, gerontological social work has gradually attracted the attention of the academic community. This study used CiteSpace knowledge mapping software to conduct a visual analysis of 550 papers on gerontological social work research in China from 2004 to 2024. The results show that as the field of gerontological social work research continues to be refined, a core group of researchers centered around Lin Shizhu has gradually emerged, as well as a research institution centered around Changchun University of Technology. However, a stable core group of authors has not yet been formed, and universities remain the core force in gerontological social work research. Based on the changes in the number of publications and hot topics in different periods, the research on gerontological social work in China can be divided into three stages: the initial development period of gerontological social work triggered by the increasing demand for community services(2004–2008), the rapid growth period of gerontological social work(2008–2018),and the decline period after the peak(2018–present). As more and more scholars pay attention to gerontological social work, there are still some problems in the current research, such as insufficiently detailed practice research, a single service recipient group, and a single research method. The research on gerontological social work in China shows a trend of gradually deepening and refining research topics, a trend of developing both in breadth and depth in research content, and a research characteristic of mainly qualitative research with relatively single research methods. In the future, gerontological social work in China will pay more attention to the development of gerontological social work and artificial intelligence, end-of-life care for lonely elderly people, hospice care, and ethical dilemmas in gerontological social work.