By Matthew Froestad, SVP, Client Services
When patients struggle to see a clear, positive path forward, modeling a constructive journey can give them the confidence they need.
When Coretta learned she had stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer, she was shell-shocked. She didn’t fit the profile, didn’t see it coming, and didn’t know what to do next. One thing was clear: this wasn’t a journey she wanted to be on or knew how to navigate. What was the point? Was there any hope? What could a doctor possibly do for her now? Hope was hard to muster, and despair came easily.
That’s the situation many patients find themselves in, especially in high-stakes, time-sensitive contexts like cancer, mental health crises, or the diagnosis of a chronic condition. They’re overwhelmed and uncertain, not just about their prognosis but also about their role in their own care.
Too often, healthcare communication fails them. It assumes patients know how to advocate for themselves, initiate treatment, and collaborate with their doctor. But many don’t.
What if we could show them how?
Across therapeutic areas, a new generation of patient education tools is emerging, ones that go beyond raising awareness to modeling shared decision-making. Video, in particular, is a powerful vehicle for this approach. Increasingly, brands are producing dual-narrative videos featuring real patients and their real healthcare providers. These videos offer more than emotional support or clinical facts—they provide a window into what effective collaboration looks and feels like.
In a healthcare landscape saturated with information and strained trust, modeling becomes one of our most powerful tools. Done well, it doesn’t just tell patients what to do. It shows them how to engage with their provider, empowering them to co-own the path forward—which in turn drives better adherence and outcomes.
The Confidence Gap in Patient Engagement
We’ve spent decades promoting patient empowerment, but too often that empowerment stops at slogans. “Be your own advocate” sounds good, until you’re in the exam room, overwhelmed, intimidated, and unsure what to ask.
Research repeatedly shows that patient confidence, also known as self-efficacy, is closely tied to outcomes. Yet many educational initiatives treat knowledge as the endpoint rather than a bridge to action.
This gap is especially stark in conditions burdened by stigma, emotional trauma, or time pressure. In mental health, patients may not even feel “allowed” to question a care plan. In oncology, the urgency of treatment can create a power imbalance that discourages dialogue. Cultural, linguistic, and generational barriers further widen the divide.
What patients need isn’t just data, they need context. They need to see what constructive, collaborative care looks like in real life. That’s where modeling shared decision-making comes in.
A New Approach to Storytelling
We’ve seen this shift firsthand in our work. A recent example from the oncology space: a video produced in partnership with one of our clients features Coretta, a real patient, and her oncologist. Their story unfolds in parallel—each sharing their perspective on the same conversations, decisions, and fears.
It’s not just moving, it’s instructive.
Viewers aren’t being sold a treatment. They’re being shown a relationship built on trust, transparency, and mutual respect. They see that speaking up isn’t just okay, it’s critical. That realization becomes a kind of internal permission slip: If Coretta can ask, so can I.
What makes the video especially powerful isn’t just its authenticity, it’s its intention. This isn’t another testimonial or outcome story. It’s a guide. And we’re now expanding this format to other areas, including mental health and rare diseases, where patients often feel most isolated and voiceless.
Why Modeling Works
Modeling is one of the oldest and most effective forms of learning. Don’t tell me, show me. These shared decision-making videos succeed because they:
- Humanize the clinical – Real people navigating real conversations demystify complex care journeys.
- Demystify engagement – Patients learn what questions they can ask, what information to expect, and how to participate.
- Normalize emotion – Vulnerability from both patient and provider gives viewers permission to process their own feelings.
- Encourage trust – Seeing a provider listen, explain, and validate builds confidence that collaboration is not only possible, but expected.
Designing for Replicability
The video is just one proof point, but the format is highly scalable. It works across conditions, demographics, and care settings. The essential ingredient is authenticity: real patients, real providers, real conversations.
These videos are most impactful when they reach patients at the right time, shortly after diagnosis, when options are being discussed, or before major treatment decisions. Embedding them on brand websites, patient portals, or within care team interactions helps ensure timely access.
Doctor discussion guides and patient-facing FAQs have long been valuable tools, and they remain important starting points. But on their own, they often fall short. They tell patients what to ask, but not how to ask it, or what that back-and-forth might sound like in a real clinical setting. When these traditional resources are strategically developed alongside shared decision-making videos, the result is a well-rounded, empowering toolkit. Patients gain not just the prompts, but the confidence, clarity, and emotional readiness to have deeper, more effective conversations with their healthcare team.
This isn’t about replacing traditional education. It’s about filling the gap between knowing and knowing how, between being told what to do and being shown how to navigate forward.
Looking Ahead
Healthcare marketing is evolving, and so are patient expectations. In a landscape where trust must be earned one interaction at a time, content that merely informs is no longer enough. It must connect. It must guide. It must equip.
Modeling shared decision-making is not a trend. It’s a necessary evolution, one that meets patients where they are and offers them a clear, empowering path forward.
