Scoping review of mindfulness research: A topic modelling approach

Abstract

Objectives: As the volume of mindfulness research continues amassing exponentially, there have been attempts to review works in various aspects of mindfulness research systematically. The present study provides a scoping review via a topic modelling approach to supplement the overall research synthesis effort. Specifically, the objective is to scope the mindfulness research by identifying topics relevant to mindfulness research using the probabilistic topic modelling approach. <br><br> Methods: A literature search based on “mindfulness” returned 5,947 bibliographical records from the Web of Science platform (for records up to 20 October 2017). <br> <br>Results: When the titles and abstracts were subjected to the probabilistic topic modelling approach, 106 topics were revealed. Further interpretation by the research team resulted in a total of 231 Suggested Terms. The terms were further categorised into Condition/Issue, Construct/Philosophy, Modality, Population/Setting and Research Methodology. <br> <br> Conclusions: The topic modelling process obtained a panoptic view of mindfulness research, providing mindfulness researchers with some indicators regarding the range of topics currently under study. The outcome of this topic modelling effort has been made available at http://mindfulnesstm.github.io/tiddlywiki/Mindfulness_TM_2017.html.