Lantern
Category
Family Support
Child's Age
0-1 years, 1-2 years, 2-3 years, 3-4 years, 4-5 years
Participant
Parents/Guardian
Languages
English, Spanish, Other
Brief Description
Lantern, formerly known as Bright by Text (BBT), is a nationwide text messaging service that encourages parents and caregivers to make the most of their interactions with their children. Text nudges provide information to parents and caregivers about child development, health, and well-being. Messages are customized to the child’s age and include tips, information, games, and resources. Optional features for customized messages based on location.
Expected Impact
- Increase in positive parenting behavior
- Greater knowledge of relevant community resources
- Increased parent understanding of child development
Core Components for Model Fidelity
- Lantern Core Text Nudges: Messages are sent 2-4 times a week; personalized to child’s age. Each text nudge is designed to equip families with essential information to promote their child’s healthy development through the most pivotal early stages of life, and seeks to enhance parent/caregiver confidence, competence, and connection. Each text message includes a link for more info, resources, and video demonstrations of relevant activities/behaviors. Core content messages and associated resources are created by Lantern.
- (Optional) Community Messages: Scheduled and created by community partners, highlighting relevant parenting resources and events. Most partners share 1–5 community messages per month and can direct these messages to subscribers by zip code, county, or state. Community messages must include a link for more information (e.g., a social media post, website, etc.) and must receive approval from the Lantern team prior to sharing with the partner’s community.
Languages Materials are Available in
English, Spanish, Other*
*Contact purveyor about additional available languages.
Delivery Mode
Virtual (SMS).
Dosage
Text nudges are delivered 2-4 times a week beginning at enrollment and continuing until a parent unsubscribes. Lantern will partner with Smart Start Local Partnerships to provide messaging to children over age 5.
The average user is subscribed to texts for approximately 3 years. There is no minimum dosage or length of subscription required or recommended by the purveyor/research.
Infrastructure for Implementation
Materials: Parents need access to a mobile device to receive SMS messages. For partners, internet access is necessary to schedule messages and view their Lantern partner portal.
Staffing Requirements
Partners should identify at least one person to serve as the point person for Lantern, participate in an onboarding training focused on how to use the Lantern platform and best practices to engage families, and engage families and community partners to promote enrollment and use of the platform.
Partners have the option to curate 1-2 messages per week regarding services and resources available to children and families and local updates. Partners distribute these custom messages via the Lantern platform. Lantern provides translation support so that community messages are accessible in English, Spanish, and Arabic.
NCPC strongly recommends staff receive training in the Standards of Quality for Family Support and Strengthening. Contact Positive Childhood Alliance North Carolina (PCANC) or National Family Support Network (NFSN) for more information, training, and certification.
Training for Model Fidelity
Partners have access to a marketing and communications toolkit, customized onboarding and training, strategy calls with the Lantern support team, quarterly newsletters, and partner webinars where partners from around the country can share ideas, post questions, and get answers from peer organizations using Lantern.
Contact Information
Brigette Swartz: Vice President of Partner Development; brigette@mylantern.org, 720-666-6331
Cost Estimates
Registering for Lantern is free to parents/caregivers. Message and data rates may apply. Standard unique keyword license is $10,000 annually. Discounted license rates have been offered for multiple partner participation. Lantern will partner with Smart Start Local Partnerships to provide messaging to children over age 5.
As of 2023, in NC, PBS currently holds a license that allows NC parents access to standard developmental messages, and any partner can enroll caregivers in the text nudges. However, if a partner organization desires to send numerous community messages through this platform, they may choose to purchase their own license.
Purpose Service Code (PSC)
5505 - Parent Education
Program Identifier (PID)
Lantern formerly Bright by Text (BBT)
Minimal Outputs for NCPC Reporting
FY 24-25:
- Number of parents/guardians participating†
- Number of community messages sent
†Select Family Support Programs data collection will include basic demographic data for parent/guardian participants including Race, Ethnicity. Data on interpretation and transportation will be collected when appropriate.
Minimal Outcomes for NCPC Reporting
FY 24-25:
- Increase in positive parenting practices
Minimal Measures for NCPC Reporting
FY 24-25:
- BBT 6 Month Parent Survey
NCPC Evidence Categorization
Evidence Informed- Two studies have been published using independent evaluators. The results of one study were inconclusive (likely attributed to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic onset during the study).
Research Summary
Two of the most recent publications on Lantern, formerly known as Bright by Text (BBT), include one evaluation1 and one randomized control trial,2 both conducted by independent evaluators. Participants included BBT subscribers, non-subscribers, and BB3 participants. Populations sampled in the research included high-risk, low-income families with children ages 18 to 36 months. Results indicated high-risk, low-income BBT families reported having more books and reading to their infant more often than high-risk non-subscribers and BB3 recipients. Children of BBT subscribers were also more likely to be on track with language-based developmental milestones than families not participating in BBT. BBT subscribers experienced similarly positive outcomes to those displayed by participants in the BB3 program. The results of the randomized control trial were inconclusive and likely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- ^ See Germeroth et al. (2018). A team of researchers from Marzano Research (independent evaluator) evaluated Lantern, which was known as BBT at the time of study, as a potential alternative to home visiting programs such as Bright by Three (BB3), which are more costly and less accessible than an SMS-based intervention like BBT. They sent a link to a survey to BBT subscribers, non-subscribers, and BB3 participants, in which they provided demographic information and had the option to indicate an interest in providing more information. Those who opted in were randomly selected to participate in focus groups. The focus group’s responses were compared to those of families who received a home visit by BBT’s parent company, Bright by Three (BB3), and a comparison group not involved in BB3 or BBT. The study found that high-risk, low-income BBT families reported having more books and reading to their infant more often than high-risk non-subscribers and BB3 recipients. Children of BBT subscribers were also more likely to be on track with language-based developmental milestones than families not participating in BBT. BBT subscribers experienced similarly positive outcomes to those displayed by participants in the BB3 program. Limitations with this study include requiring participants to opt in to take surveys and provide feedback and the lack of random assignment.
- ^ See Garcia et al. (2022). SRI conducted RCTs on BBT, which has since been rebranded as Lantern, and a similar text-based program. Participants were recruited using BBT’s standard means of recruitment (social media advertisements, outreach efforts by partner organizations, and promotion by PBS) and consisted of parents of 18-to–36-month-old children. Participants completed an online survey before being randomly assigned to a control group (placebo messages) or treatment group (BBT messages). Participants completed a survey regarding their engagement during treatment (at either 4 weeks or 8 weeks) and a post-treatment survey at the end of the 12-week period. Participants received a $25 Amazon gift card after completing the baseline and post-treatment surveys for a total of $50. 65 of the 530 participants were invited to take the MacArthur-Bates CDI and 46 did so. 5 participants were interviewed at the end of the treatment. Results indicated no statistically significant differences between the treatment and control groups in terms of impacts on parent outcomes. The results suggest that lower-income families experienced more positive impacts than their higher-income peers. The CDI results showed statistically insignificant increases in child use of word combinations compared to the comparison group. Limitations of this study include use of a survey that was not assessed for reliability/validity, a relatively short intervention window, inviting a limited subset of participants to complete the CDI, and a high amount of caregiver stress as data were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Researched Population
- Families in rural areas
- Families earning low-income
- Families where Spanish is the primary language
Garcia, E., Gerard, S. N., Christensen, C., Tiruke, T., Zamora, M. C., & Grindal, T. (2022). Sparking Connections: Evaluations of Mobile Messaging on Responsive Caregiving. SRI International. https://www.sri.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/sparking-connections-report.pdf
Germeroth, C., Kelleman, B., Bopp, L., Joyce, J., Underwood, K., & Serdiouk, M. (2018). Bright by Text Evaluation Report. Marzano Research. https://www.brightbytext.org/userfiles/2085/files/BBT%20Evaluation%20Report%20and%20Appendices%20FINAL.pdf
Lantern provides translation support so that community messages are accessible in English, Spanish, and Arabic.
Local Partnerships Currently Implementing
Local Partnerships in purple have adopted Lantern. Local Partnership contact information can be found here.