Understanding primary care physicians' perceptions of large language model adoption in clinical practice: A qualitative research protocol leveraging the technology adoption behavior framework.

Social anxiety refers to a persistent fear of social situations and interactions. Individuals with social anxiety often experience anxiety in situations such as speaking in public, interactions with strangers, and attending parties []. These fears can cause substantial distress and impairment in educational attainment, employment status, and relationship building and are associated with impaired social functioning, social isolation, and even suicidal thoughts [–]. A traditional treatment for social anxiety is exposure therapy, where patients are encouraged to repeatedly expose themselves to stressful situations in which they are forced to interact with others, progressing from less fearful to more challenging situations as they gain confidence [–]. However, the psychological burden of exposure to strangers often deters patients from continuing the therapy []. Furthermore, psychotherapists must spend a great deal of time and effort identifying subtle patterns of avoidance and encouraging patients to engage in the opposite behavior, which imposes a financial burden on the patients [,]. Exposure therapy with video feedback can alleviate these problems. Causes of social anxiety include distorted and negative self-image, egocentric attention, and the negative effects of safety behaviors (e.g., influencing the behavior of others), all of which contribute to the persistence of social anxiety. Video feedback is particularly effective in repairing distorted self-images. Warnock-Parkes et al. [] examined the effects of video feedback on patients with social anxiety. In their study, participants conversed with strangers and viewed a video recording of the interaction. Before viewing the video, they predicted how it would appear, and after viewing the video, they made a second self-assessment. Consequently, 98% of the patients improved their self-assessments after receiving video feedback, and one week after the video feedback, there was a significant decrease in social anxiety (as measured using the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale). Other studies have reported the effectiveness of video feedback on social anxiety in clinical and nonclinical settings [–]. Video feedback is a key component of cognitive therapy for social anxiety as it helps modify negative self-perceptions and gain insight into the effects of safety behaviors. Video feedback methods based on cognitive behavioral therapy support image formation by encouraging the correction of negative self-images and promoting the internalization of successful experiences through video self-monitoring [–]. However, exposure therapy using video feedback has not eliminated the excessive psychological burden of exposure to others, and there are still retention challenges []. In the current study, our objective is to reduce the psychological burden by using a novel video feedback method in which a participant’s digital twin (a digital representation reflecting individual characteristics), rather than the participants themselves, is exposed to a stranger. Our approach utilizes digital twin technology called “Another Me” to reproduce a participant’s appearance, voice, and knowledge in the form of an avatar that communicates with a stranger smoothly in a digital space. Our hope is that viewing their own Another Me videos will correct participants’ negative self-image and help them feel it is easy to imagine a successful communication experience with a stranger, thereby reducing social anxiety.