Abstract
Background
It is necessary to systematise care engineering to solve the social issues related to care in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) education. While the need for engineering and technology in care has increased, current trends are not well understood. This search was conducted using Web of Science, a literature database, with the study period spanning 1900 to 2019. The search term ‘care’ was used, as well as ‘Science’, ‘Technology’, ‘Engineering’, ‘Art’, or ‘Mathematics’. Subsequently, the research field from the Web of Science was extracted every 10 years, from 1980 to 2019. The ‘title’ as selected by the Web of Science was analysed using KH Coder 3.Beta.01e analysis software, with frequent nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs examined.
Results
The most frequently used words were extracted using KH Coder. Of the highest ranked words, ‘children’ was ranked high until 1969; ‘health’, ‘medical’, and ‘cost’ were ranked high in the 1970s; and ‘system’, ‘information’, ‘assessment’, and ‘primary’ were highest in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, respectively. Healthcare has always been the most qualified language, and especially in the 1990s, when it accounted for 59.1%. More frequently occurring in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s were ‘home care’; ‘critical’ or intensive’; ‘patients’ or ‘primary care’; and ‘self’, ‘quality’ or ‘palliative care’, respectively. The co-occurring network diagram most often categorised ‘quality support’, ‘care engineering’, ‘primary’ and ‘intervention’, ‘medical care’, ‘human development’, ‘lifestyle’, and ‘social’ issues.
Conclusion
The use of technology is expected to advance, and research on improving the quality of care is expected to increase. Systematising this as ‘care engineering’ creates a field to face the long-term problems in care. Literature on human development and the quality of care itself are expected to evolve, and new developments should occur from the care perspective.