Role of Chatbots on Supporting Women in Perinatal Period: A Scoping Review

Perinatal women need continuous, individualized, accessible care, which traditional models often fail to provide. Chatbots can offer education, symptom tracking, and psychological support, but evidence is fragmented and requires systematic synthesis to assess effectiveness.

To understand the current studies on the application of chatbots in the perinatal period and to explore their contributions, limitations, and future directions in this field.

Relevant studies were systematically identified through a comprehensive search of major databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, Joanna Briggs Institute, Cochrane Library, CNKI, SinoMed, VIP, and WanFang, covering all records up to June 2025. Two independent researchers screened and evaluated the retrieved citations, and data were extracted in a structured format to maintain methodological rigor and inter-reviewer consistency.

A total of 17 studies were included in this review, which indicated that chatbots offer a range of functionalities: optimizing follow-up and revisit processes, monitoring health status, providing psychological and counseling support, offering educational resources, and serving as interactive tools. Most of the included studies demonstrated that chatbots offer beneficial effects, including disease monitoring, enhanced parenting self-efficacy, mental health support, facilitation of role adaptation, improved health literacy and health behaviors, and increased user engagement and satisfaction.

Most of the included studies indicate that chatbots have a positive impact on pregnancy and postpartum care outcomes. However, the majority of these studies remain in the preliminary stages, and further validation of chatbot effectiveness in this context is still needed through large-scale, multicenter, randomized controlled trials.

Deepening knowledge of perinatal chatbots' uses and limits enables targeted digital health strategies to improve care quality and maternal, neonatal, and family experiences.

Chatbot could be a potentially valuable tool in perinatal care to enhance health education, psychological support, and communication between care providers and women.