Bridging the Knowledge Gap: A Bibliometric Study of Digital Tools to Improve Parental Healths Literacy in Child Grow Monitoring

Abstract

Parental health literacy plays a critical role in monitoring child growth and preventing nutritional problems such as stunting, wasting, and overweight. Low literacy often delays detection of growth disturbances and reduces the utilization of preventive health services. Digital technologies, including mHealth, interactive platforms, and IoT devices, offer new opportunities to address these gaps. This study aims to analyze scientific publications on digital tools for improving parental health literacy in child growth monitoring through a bibliometric approach. A quantitative descriptive design was applied using Scopus data from 2015–2024. Keywords included early childhood, nutritional status, digital health, and literacy. The analysis covered publication trends, core journals, productive authors, institutional and country affiliations, subject areas, funding sponsors, and keyword networks visualized with VOSviewer. A total of 1,151 publications were identified, peaking in 2023 (188, 16.28%). Nutrients ranked as the leading journal (60 articles), Dibley MJ as the most productive author (15), and the University of Sydney as the top institution (46). The United States contributed the most documents (378). Medicine was the dominant subject area (43.2%), with NIH as the main funder (94). Keyword mapping revealed strong links between health literacy, mHealth, parental involvement, and child growth monitoring. Research on digital tools for parental health literacy shows a growing trend, with significant contributions from international journals and scholars. Future studies should examine effectiveness, sustainability, and long-term impacts.