Conceptualization of Therapeutic Recreation and Emerging Themes: A Bibliometric Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17238965Keywords:
Therapeutic Recreation, Recreational Therapy, Therapeutic Leisure, Bibliometric Analysis, ConceptualizationAbstract
In this study, the aim was to map the evolution of the concept of Therapeutic Recreation and the studies conducted in the field. Within the scope of quantitative data, the study aimed to provide a systematic summary of the existing literature using bibliometric analysis and to identify research trends, concentrations, and potential gaps in the field of therapeutic recreation. The unit of analysis was based on bibliometric data of various types of works published between 1980 and 2025, retrieved from the Web of Science database.Examining the distribution of 783 works related to Therapeutic Recreation by publication year, the highest concentration was observed in 2019 (49 works), 2016 (42 works), and 2021 and 2022 (41 works each). The most prolific authors were identified as Moxam Lorna and Christopher Patterson. In terms of publication types, journal articles were predominant (576), followed by 51 editorial materials, 65 book chapters, 31 review articles, and 28 conference papers. Regarding the distribution of publications by country, the United States (536), Canada (117), and Australia (48) were leading. The majority of publications were in English (780), with a few in Spanish (2) and Portuguese (1). The analyzed publications were mostly indexed in SSCI (157), ESCI (565), and SCIE (107).When examining the most frequently used keywords in publications related to Therapeutic Recreation, “Therapeutic Recreation” appeared 207 times, “recreational therapy” 105 times, and “recreation therapy” 31 times.
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