Currently submitted to: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting
Date Submitted: Feb 10, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Feb 13, 2026 - Apr 10, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
A Social Media–Based Intervention to Increase Caregiver Knowledge of Early Infant Communication: Mixed Methods Intervention Development and Pilot Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Greater caregiver knowledge of early language development may support more reciprocal interactions with infants and improved child language outcomes. Shortform video interventions on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok are a scalable, cost effective way to increase caregiver knowledge.
Objective:
The objective of this investigation is to describe the development and testing of a version of the BabyTok Project, a social media based intervention for caregivers of very young infants under three months of age.
Methods:
We used a mixed method, pre-post quasi experimental design to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and initial evidence of effectiveness of the BabyTok Project through a knowledge measure called the SPEAK-R.
Results:
Engagement metrics, participants’ post-intervention surveys, and feedback support the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. Statistically significant scores on the SPEAK-R offer initial indications of change in caregiver knowledge.
Conclusions:
The BabyTok Project has multiple demonstrations of its feasibility and acceptability and shows promise as a means to increase caregiver knowledge of early infant communication development and strategies to enhance children's learning. Interventions like the BabyTok Project could be used as a population-wide support to promote optimal child language outcomes.
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.