Research
The research behind Embrace
What happens when the people who love someone show up for them all at once? Meet the people who help us study that question, and see what the evidence does and doesn’t say.
Scientific advisors
The people guiding our work.
Affiliations identify each advisor and don’t imply institutional endorsement.
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Measuring perceived support
Gregory D. Zimet, PhD
Indiana University School of Medicine
Co-developed a widely used measure of social support. Brings decades of research into trust and health communication.
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Clinical Psychologist and Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine
Gregory D. Zimet, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine. He founded the Center for HPV Research and built a behavioral science program focused on vaccine confidence, health communication, and decisions made under uncertainty. Earlier in his career, Dr. Zimet co-developed the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, or MSPSS, a widely used measure that distinguishes support from family, friends, and a significant other. That framework closely matches Embrace's ability to make an entire circle of care visible. His communication research also adds a practical lens on message framing, trust, and engagement. For Embrace, Dr. Zimet offers both a foundational way to measure perceived support and decades of insight into how carefully designed messages can influence health-related attitudes and behavior.
- Perceived social support from family, friends, and significant others
- Message framing, trust, and behavior under uncertainty
- Validated measurement for future product evaluation
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Coping with illness, together
Nina Rottmann, PhD
University of Southern Denmark
Studies how couples and families cope with illness together, and what helps those relationships stay strong.
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Associate Professor and Head of the INSIDE Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Southern Denmark
Nina Rottmann, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the University of Southern Denmark, a licensed psychologist, and head of the INSIDE research group. Her work asks how people adapt to life-threatening or chronic illness and how families, partners, and care systems can support that adjustment. Drawing on clinical experience in health and rehabilitation psychology, she studies the psychosocial and existential dimensions of cancer, heart disease, and other major health challenges. A central focus is dyadic coping, the way two people respond to illness together, along with close relationships and personal meaning. Her longitudinal research with couples facing breast cancer linked shared coping with stronger relationship quality and fewer depressive symptoms. For Embrace, Dr. Rottmann brings a nuanced understanding of support as a relationship process and of how connection can help patients and loved ones navigate uncertainty together.
- Dyadic coping and close relationships during illness
- Meaning, identity, and existential concerns in rehabilitation
- Support needs of both patients and the people who care for them
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From clinical needs to better care
Nandan Lad, MD, PhD
Duke Neurosurgery
Connects patient-centered research with clinical practice, and leads the Duke lab housing the Embrace research initiative.
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Professor and Vice Chair of Innovation, Duke Neurosurgery
Nandan Lad, MD, PhD, is a neurosurgeon, scientist, entrepreneur, and Professor and Vice Chair of Innovation in Duke Neurosurgery. He directs the Functional and Restorative Neuromodulation Program and Duke NeuroInnovations, where clinical needs are translated into new devices, digital tools, and care models. His research spans neuromodulation, neurorestoration, clinical trials, data science, and patient-centered outcomes. His lab houses Embrace as a Duke Bass Connections research initiative exploring how short-form storytelling and digital platforms can support people and families facing diagnoses, surgery, grief, and end-of-life transitions. For Embrace, Dr. Lad connects human-centered design with clinical reality, helping the team build around the emotional cadence of treatment while maintaining the privacy, evidence, and workflow discipline expected of health technology.
- Clinical translation and human-centered health technology
- Patient-centered outcomes, surgery, chronic pain, and recovery
- Innovation pathways, safety, privacy, and health-system relevance
Evidence
Studies that inform Embrace.
Open a study to see what it found, what it suggests for Embrace, and why it should be read with care.
Limits of the evidence
None of these studies directly tests the complete Embrace product. Embrace supports connection; it isn’t medical care or therapy, and we don’t claim it improves recovery or survival.
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01 · Meta-analysis
Social relationships and mortality risk
Strong relationships were linked to 50% greater odds of survival.
Finding, meaning, and limits
- Key finding
- Across 148 studies and 308,849 participants, stronger social relationships were associated with 50% greater odds of survival. Measures that captured multiple dimensions of social integration showed the strongest association.
- What this informs
- Supports the core premise that meaningful social connection is health-relevant. It also favors experiences that make a network of support tangible rather than counting contacts alone.
- Interpret with care
- This is an observational meta-analysis. It does not show that Embrace, or any single support intervention, improves survival.
Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Layton JB. PLoS Medicine. 2010;7(7):e1000316.
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02 · Meta-analysis
Associations of social networks with cancer mortality
Feeling supported was linked to lower cancer mortality.
Finding, meaning, and limits
- Key finding
- Across 87 studies, higher perceived social support, larger social networks, and marriage were associated with lower cancer mortality risk. The relative reductions reported were 25%, 20%, and 12%, respectively.
- What this informs
- Shows that perceived support, not only the existence of other people, is a meaningful target. For Embrace, this points to the importance of recipients feeling seen, remembered, and held by their circle of care.
- Interpret with care
- The findings are associations and varied by cancer type and study design. They do not establish survival or recovery benefits from Embrace.
Pinquart M, Duberstein PR. Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology. 2010;75(2):122-137.
Read the study: Associations of social networks with cancer mortality
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03 · Longitudinal study
Dyadic coping within couples dealing with breast cancer
Coping together was linked to fewer depressive symptoms for both partners.
Finding, meaning, and limits
- Key finding
- In 538 patient-partner couples, greater common dyadic coping was associated with better relationship quality and fewer depressive symptoms for both partners. Negative dyadic coping was associated with poorer outcomes.
- What this informs
- This frames support as a shared process, with authentic, collaborative messages that do not place emotional management entirely on the patient.
- Interpret with care
- The sample involved women with breast cancer and male partners, so the findings should not be generalized to every relationship or diagnosis without care.
Rottmann N, Hansen DG, Larsen PV, et al. Health Psychology. 2015;34(5):486-495.
Read the study: Dyadic coping within couples dealing with breast cancer
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04 · Validation study
The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support
A reliable 12-item measure of support from family, friends, and a partner.
Finding, meaning, and limits
- Key finding
- The study established a reliable 12-item measure of perceived support across three sources: family, friends, and a significant other. Higher perceived support was associated with lower depression and anxiety symptoms.
- What this informs
- Provides a credible evaluation framework for pilots. A short, licensed or appropriately permitted support measure could test whether the experience changes perceived support over time.
- Interpret with care
- This study validated a measure in university students. It did not test a health intervention or the clinical effect of video messages.
Zimet GD, Dahlem NW, Zimet SG, Farley GK. Journal of Personality Assessment. 1988;52(1):30-41.
Read the study: The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support
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05 · Cluster randomized trial
The VOICE randomized clinical trial in advanced cancer
Coaching improved patient-centered communication in advanced cancer.
Finding, meaning, and limits
- Key finding
- Among 38 oncologists and 265 patients, with 194 participating caregivers, combined clinician training and patient coaching produced a significant improvement in patient-centered communication.
- What this informs
- Guided prompts and preparation can improve high-stakes communication. Embrace can reduce the blank-page problem by helping contributors express care clearly and respond to emotion.
- Interpret with care
- Secondary outcomes, including quality of life and health-care use, did not significantly improve. The intervention involved trained clinicians and coaching, not a montage alone.
Epstein RM, Duberstein PR, Fenton JJ, et al. JAMA Oncology. 2017;3(1):92-100.
Read the study: The VOICE randomized clinical trial in advanced cancer
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06 · Randomized controlled trial
Digital storytelling after lung cancer surgery
Short digital stories improved resilience and quality of life after surgery.
Finding, meaning, and limits
- Key finding
- Ninety postoperative patients with non-small cell lung cancer were randomized to routine care or four digital stories. The storytelling group showed greater improvements in resilience, self-efficacy, and quality of life through three-month follow-up.
- What this informs
- This is one of the closest intervention studies to Embrace's medium. It supports short, structured video stories as a plausible psychosocial format during cancer recovery.
- Interpret with care
- The videos featured survivor experiences and were not personalized messages from the recipient's own network. Longer-term and broader-population evidence is still needed.
Zhu J, Chen SH, Guo JY, et al. European Journal of Oncology Nursing. 2024;69:102535.
Read the study: Digital storytelling after lung cancer surgery
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07 · Randomized controlled trial
Simulated family presence for hospitalized patients with delirium
A one-minute family video eased agitation while patients watched.
Finding, meaning, and limits
- Key finding
- In a three-group trial, a one-minute family video produced a reduction in agitation during viewing for 94% of participants, compared with 70% for a nature video and 30% with usual care. Immediate post-viewing effects were more limited.
- What this informs
- Offers direct evidence that a familiar, prerecorded family presence can have an immediate emotional effect in a stressful care setting. Timing and replayability are important design features.
- Interpret with care
- The population was older hospitalized patients with delirium, the study was single-site, and the effect was not consistently sustained after viewing.
Waszynski CM, Milner KA, Staff I, Molony SL. International Journal of Nursing Studies. 2018;77:154-161.
Read the study: Simulated family presence for hospitalized patients with delirium
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08 · Randomized controlled trial
Dignity therapy at the end of life
Patients valued leaving a lasting record, though distress did not change.
Finding, meaning, and limits
- Key finding
- Among 326 patients who completed the trial, dignity therapy did not improve the primary distress measures. On secondary self-report outcomes, participants more often described it as helpful and as improving quality of life, dignity, and family appreciation.
- What this informs
- Supports structured reflection and a lasting record as meaningful parts of end-of-life support. Embrace can preserve messages and memories while centering participant choice and control.
- Interpret with care
- Dignity therapy is a trained, clinician-led psychotherapy. Embrace is not a substitute for dignity therapy and has not been shown to produce the same therapeutic effects.
Chochinov HM, Kristjanson LJ, Breitbart W, et al. Lancet Oncology. 2011;12(8):753-762.
Duke Bass Connections
Where the research happens.
Embrace is housed as a Duke Bass Connections research initiative in the lab of Dr. Nandan Lad. Student and faculty teams study how short-form storytelling can help people gather emotional support during diagnoses, surgery, and other hard transitions. Research is ongoing; these project pages describe co-design work and early findings, not completed controlled trials of Embrace.