Educational games in nursing education: A bibliometric and content analysis

Abstract

Aim: To conduct a bibliometric and content analysis of publications on educational games in the field of nursing education.

Background: Educational games are an innovative active teaching method. Its use in nursing education has advantages; it has the potential to support students' active participation in the educational process.

Design: Bibliometric and content analysis.

Methods: The data for this study were screened from the Web of Science database. Bibliometric analysis and data visualization were performed using VOSviewer and Bibliometrix software, employing techniques such as scientific mapping and performance analysis. For content analysis, a synthetic knowledge synthesis approach based on bibliometric mapping was adopted.

Results: A total of 223 publications involving 819 authors were analyzed. These publications appeared in 87 different journals, with an average of 1.67 citations per publication. The journals "Nurse Education Today" and "Clinical Simulation in Nursing" featured the highest number of articles. The USA and Spain were leading countries in terms of total link strength, connections and the number of articles and citations. The most frequently cited author was Gómez-Urquiza (n = 308). Commonly used keywords included "nursing education," "gamification," "serious games," and "nursing students." The content analysis revealed five primary themes: 1) technology in nursing education, 2) effects of educational games, 3) applications of educational games in nursing education, 4) types of educational games used in nursing education and 5) gamification in the learning-teaching process.

Conclusions: Research on educational games in nursing education is on the rise. The findings of this study provide new insights for researchers interested in the application of educational games in nursing education.

Keywords: Bibliometric analysis; Educational games; Nursing education; Nursing students.