Background Virtual reality (VR) can be used to build many different scenes aimed at reducing study-related stress. However, only few academic experiments on university students for preference testing have been performed. Objective This study aims to assess the preference of VR games for stress and depression treatment using a discrete choice experiment (DCE). Methods A total of 5 different attributes were selected based on the depression therapy parameters and attributes related to VR: (1) treatment modality; (2) therapy duration; (3) perceived remission rate; (4) probability of adverse events; and the (5) monthly cost of adding treatment to a discrete choice experiment. By comparing different attributes and levels, we could draw some conclusions about the depression therapy testing preference for university students; 1 university student was responsible for VR scene development and 1 for participant recruitment. Results The utility value of different attributes for “0% Probability of adverse events” was higher than others (99.22), and the utility value of VR treatment as the most popular treatment method compared with counseling and medicine treatment was 80.95. Three parameter aspects (different treatments for depression) were statistically significant (P<.001), including “0%” and “50%” of “Probability of adverse events” and “¥500” (a currency exchange rate of ¥1 [Chinese yuan]=US $0.15 is applicable) of “The monthly cost of treatment.” Most individuals preferred 12 months as the therapy duration, and the odds ratio of “12 months” was 1.095 (95% CI 0.945-1.270) when compared with the reference level (6 months). Meanwhile, the cheapest price (¥500) of depression therapy was the optimum choice for most students. Conclusions People placed great preference on VR technology psychological intervention methods, which indicates that VR may have a potential market in the treatment of psychological problems. However, adverse events and treatment costs need to be considered. This study can be used to guide policies that are relevant to the development of the application of VR technology in the field of psychological pressure and depression treatment.

BACKGROUND Hospice care, a type of end-of-life care provided for dying patients and their families, has been rooted in China since the 1980s. It can improve receivers’ quality of life as well as ease their economic burden. The Chinese mass media have continued to actively dispel misconceptions of hospice care and deliver the latest information to citizens. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to retrieve and analyze news reports on hospice care to gain insight into whether any differences exist in delivered heath information as time went by and the role the mass media played in health communication in recent years. METHODS We searched the Huike (WiseSearch) database for related news from Chinese mass media between 2014 and 2019. We set January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2016 as the first time period and January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2019 as the second time period. Python was used to complete the data cleaning process. We determined appropriate topic numbers for these two periods based on coherence score and applied the latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling. Keywords of each topic and corresponding topics’ names were then generated. The topics were plotted into different circles and their distances on the two-dimensional plane was represented by multidimensional scaling. RESULTS After removing the duplicated and irrelevant news articles, we obtained a total of 2227 articles. We chose eight as the suitable topic number for both time periods and generated topics’ name and their keywords. The top three most reported topics in the first period were patient treatment, hospice care stories, and development of health care services and health insurance, accounting for 18.68% (n = 178), 16.58% (n = 158), and 14.17% (n = 135) of the collected reports, respectively. The top three most reported topics in the second period were hospice care stories, patient treatment, and development of health care services, accounting for 15.62% (n = 199), 15.38 (n = 15.38), and 14.27% (n = 182), respectively. CONCLUSIONS Topic modeling of news reports gives us a better understanding of patterns of health communication about hospice care by mass media. Chinese mass media frequently reported on hospice care in April due to a traditional Chinese festival. An increase in coverage in the second period was observed. These two periods share six similar topics, among which patient treatment outstrips hospice care stories as the most-reported topic in the second period, showing the humanistic spirit behind the reports. We suggest stakeholders cooperate with the mass media when planning to update policies.

BACKGROUND Virtual reality (VR) can be used to build many different scenes aimed at reducing study-related stress. However, few academic experiments about university students for preference testing have been done. Our study aimed to assess the preference of VR games for stress and depression prevention by using a discrete choice experiment (DCE). OBJECTIVE The candidate could wear the headset and alleviate the stress and depression in the game. The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the preference of VR technology in college students’ psychological pressure relief and depression prevention. METHODS Five different attributes were selected based on the depression therapy parameter and attributes about VR: (1) treatment modality, (2) therapy duration, (3) perceived remission rate, (4) probability of adverse events, and the (5) monthly cost of adding treatment to a discrete choice experiment. By comparing different attributes and levels, we could draw some conclusions about the depression therapy testing preference for university students. One university student was responsible for VR scene development and one for candidate recruitment. RESULTS The utility report of different attributes for “zero” probability of adverse events was higher than others (99.22), and the VR treatment as the most popular treatment method when compared with counseling and medicine treatment was 80.95. Three parameter aspects (different treatments for depression) were statistically significant (P＜0.001), including “0%” and “50%” of “Probability of adverse events” and “RMB$500” of “The monthly cost of treatment”. Most individuals preferred 12 months as the therapy duration, and the odds ratio of “12 months” was 1.095 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.945–1.270) when compared with the reference of level of “6 months”. Meanwhile, the cheapest price (RMB $500) of depression therapy was the optimum choice for most students. CONCLUSIONS People placed great preference on VR technology psychological intervention methods, which indicates that VR may have a potential market in prevention and treatment of psychological problems. However, adverse events and treatment costs need to be considered. This study can be used to guide policies that are relevant to the development of application of VR technology in the field of psychological pressure and depression prevention. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-doi:10.2196/29375