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Review
. 2025 Apr 4:5:1534178.
doi: 10.3389/frhs.2025.1534178. eCollection 2025.

Person-centred care as an evolving field of research: a scoping review

Emma Forsgren  1   2 , Caroline Feldthusen  1   2   3 , Sara Wallström  1   2   4   5 , Lovisa Thunström  1   2 , Lars Kullman  6 , Richard Sawatzky  1   2   7   8 , Joakim Öhlén  1   2   9
Affiliations
Review

Person-centred care as an evolving field of research: a scoping review

Emma Forsgren et al. Front Health Serv. .

Abstract

Introduction: Changes in policy towards a healthcare approach viewing patients as persons provide calls for person-centred healthcare practices. The objective of this scoping review was to present an overview of the international literature on PCC.

Methods: Database-specific search string including index terms and free text words related to PCC were constructed to identify relevant literature indexed in PubMed, Scopus, PsychINFO, CINAHL and Web of Science. Two different methods of combined manual and computer-assisted screening were applied to identify citations to be included in the review.

Results: In total, 1,351 publications were included, whereof theoretical and empirical studies were most prevalent in the sample. For the latter, the most common setting was hospital care. The study population was most often health professionals or patients. The most frequently used term was patient-centred, followed by person-centred and family-centred. Research from six continents was included. An exploration of collaborations and research clusters has revealed several clusters.

Discussion: This review provides a snapshot of the literature on PCC. The lack of clarity in terminology presents barriers to comprehensively overviewing the vast amount of available research within the field, which in turn presents challenges for research-based policy and practice development.

Keywords: EPPI-Reviewer; integrated care; literature review as topic; patient-centered care; person-centred care; scoping review; systematic review; text mining.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of data screening and selection process. *The reason for the uneven number was that after the first 5,000 were selected, 455 were added after a complimentary search on people-centred care, which was not included in the initial search syntax; Full texts were excluded for the following reasons: wrong language, wrong publication type, wrong setting, PCC not the main focus, PCC not explicated or Unable to access.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Development over time in number of publications in each reference type, 1972–2022.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Development in use of terms over time, 1972–2022.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Keywords used in included publications. https://tinyurl.com/2n4daszo. The map is based on keywords with a minimum occurrence of 2 in the included publications.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Keywords used in publications citing included publications (top 500). https://tinyurl.com/2z6t2bwm.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Geographical distribution.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Universities/research institutions in included publications. https://tinyurl.com/2q9knonr. This map is based on institutions with at least five shared publications with another institution.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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