Nursing-Led Interventions in Breastfeeding Support: A Bibliometric Analysis of Research Trends

Abstract

Breastfeeding support delivered by nurses and midwives has expanded across healthcare settings, yet intervention models, outcome definitions, and care pathways remain heterogeneous. This study characterized a search-defined Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection corpus on breastfeeding support involving nursing and midwifery to identify research trends, intervention patterns, and knowledge gaps. Records from 2015 to 2025 were retrieved through a topic-based search. The WoS Article filter was applied at retrieval, and no language filter was imposed; however, this indexing category was not treated as equivalent to an empirical research design. Bibliometric indicators, thematic analyses, and conceptual mapping were performed using Bibliometrix and VOSviewer. version 1.6.21. The corpus comprised 1934 documents. Publication activity within the retrieved corpus was concentrated in maternity care, midwifery, and maternal-child health journals. The corpus’s conceptual structure centered on support, care, self-efficacy, maternal experience, and clinical vulnerability. Five thematic fronts covered support implementation, population determinants, hospital care pathways, postpartum interventions, and lactation biology. These bibliometric patterns characterize the structure of the search-defined corpus and do not establish the prevalence or effectiveness of nursing or midwifery interventions. The field has evolved toward measurable, continuity-oriented, and hybrid support models, but clearer intervention frameworks, harmonized outcomes, and longitudinal care models are still needed.