Visual analysis of the current research status, hotspots and frontier of spiritual care will provide reference for further research on spiritual and develop Spiritual care for patients with chronic diseases in China in the future.

Using CNKI, Wanfang and VIP database as the data source, this paper uses Bibliometric method and CiteSpace software to carry out visual analysis from five aspects such as annual volume of literature, author of literature, institution of literature and high-frequency keywords.

A total of 167 literatures were included, and the volume of publications showed an increasing trend; the distribution of institutions and regions was uneven; the sources of journals were scattered; the cooperation between authors and institutions was lacking, the research hot spots and frontier are "spiritual care needs", "cancer patients", "spiritual health", "spiritual intervention" and "nurse's spiritual care ability".

The research of spiritual care for chronic patients in China started late and developed slowly, and the depth and breadth of research need to be strengthened. In the future, we should strengthen the diversified scientific research cooperation and exchanges across authors, institutions and regions, draw on the experience and lessons of foreign research, building a theoretical system of spiritual care for patients with chronic diseases suitable for China's national conditions, and promote the scientific, diversified and high-quality development of spiritual care for patients with chronic diseases in China.

Chronic Patients; Spiritual Care; CiteSpace Software; Bibliometrics; Visualization Analysis