Reimagining maternal and infant wellbeing through AI-embedded integrative arts-based care: a public health...

The peripartum period and early parenting are critical phases for maternal health, infant development, family functioning, and long-term wellbeing. Although maternal and child health services have traditionally prioritized pregnancy safety, childbirth security, and neonatal survival, contemporary public health agendas increasingly emphasize maternal mental health, positive birth and postnatal experiences, parent-infant bonding, and family-centered support. Evidence suggests that music therapy, mindful music listening, artistic expression, doula support, aromatherapy, parent-infant singing, and parental voice interaction may help reduce pregnancy related anxiety, labor pain, fear of cesarean birth, postpartum psychological distress, and neonatal pain, while also supporting early relational care. However, current applications remain fragmented, often limited to single interventions, isolated settings, short care periods, and insufficient personalization. This Perspective proposes an AI-embedded integrative arts-based care framework for promoting maternal and infant wellbeing across pregnancy, childbirth and cesarean birth, postpartum recovery, neonatal intensive care, and home and community follow up. Within this framework, artificial intelligence is conceptualized as a supportive coordination infrastructure rather than a substitute for professional care. It may assist risk identification, needs profiling, personalized intervention matching, dynamic monitoring, adaptive feedback, referral linkage, and continuity across hospital, community, and family settings. The framework further emphasizes professional oversight, human verification, privacy protection, equitable access, and ethical governance. By integrating arts-based support with responsible AI-enabled coordination, this Perspective reimagines non-pharmacological maternal and infant care as a continuous, human-led, family-participatory public health pathway for diverse perinatal care contexts.