Mapping the Knowledge Landscape of Mental Health Stigma and Digital Interventions: A Bibliometric Study
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Keywords
Bibliometric analysis, Mental health stigma, Digital interventions, mHealth, Teletherapy, AI chatbots
Abstract
Mental health stigma remains one of the most pervasive barriers to achieving psychological well-being and treatment access across societies. As the digital technologies rapidly integrated into healthcare, novel interventions, such as mobile health (mHealth), telepsychiatry, and artificial intelligence-driven platforms have emerged to challenge traditional stigmatizing attitudes and improve mental health outreach. This study aims to systematically map the intellectual structure, collaboration patterns, and thematic evolution of research on mental health stigma and digital interventions through a comprehensive bibliometric analysis. The dataset comprises 487 documents published between 2000 and 2024 retrieved from the Scopus database. Using advanced bibliometric tools—Biblioshiny (R-based) for performance analysis and VOSviewer for science mapping—the study identifies publication trends, influential authors, prolific institutions, top contributing countries, and thematic clusters. The annual publication trend reveals a notable surge post-2018, reflecting the global emphasis on digital mental health during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States, United Kingdom, and Australia emerge as the most productive countries, while keywords, such as mental health stigma, digital intervention, telehealth, mHealth, and online therapy, dominate the research network. The findings provide a consolidated understanding of the field’s evolution, offering valuable insights for policymakers, clinicians, and researchers in designing inclusive, technology-enabled anti-stigma strategies.
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References
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