Patients randomised to receive the intervention will
attend four or five (depending on which comorbidities are diagnosed) weekly self-management sessions (two individual one-hour sessions and two or three two-hour group sessions) guided by study nurses and supported by cardiac, mental health and/or diabetes nurses. During the self-management sessions the nurses discuss COPD and comorbidities, inhaler
techniques, breathing and relaxation exercises, physical fitness and diet. For intervention patients the diary training will be integrated in the self-management sessions. One, four, and eight months after completion of the self-management sessions, the study nurse will contact the intervention patients
by phone to reinforce self-management skills by discussing the use of the diary and action plan, and the use of breathing and relaxation exercises (Fig. 1).