2. Materials and methods
2.1. Subjects
From April 2011 through January 2012, 84 subjects, either
recently discharged or currently in stable condition in the
outpatient department, were recruited from Beijing Hospital
and Peking Union Medical College Hospital by convenience
sampling. Subjects were divided into an intervention group
who underwent self-management education or a control
group who received usual care without additional education.
The intervention group and control group included 42 subjects each. All subjects met the following criteria:
(1) diagnosis of COPD according to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria and have a forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1)