Why is this research or review needed?
• Patients with coronary heart disease have poor quality of life and regular exercise or exercise-based cardiac rehabili- tation has been shown to be beneficial for improving their quality of life.
• Patients’ participation in, and adherence to, exercise pro- grammes is poor.
• The transtheoretical model has been found to be an effec- tive model for changing exercise behaviour; however, few studies have examined the effects of such interventions on patients with coronary heart disease.
What are the key findings?
• Patients who received exercise stage–matched intervention were more likely to engage in regular exercise (namely, at the action and maintenance stages) and demonstrated longer duration of moderate-intensity exercise (minutes/ week) than those who received conventional care and gen- eral patient education after the 8-week intervention and up to their 6-month follow-up.
• Patients who received exercise stage–matched intervention showed greater improvements in quality of life than those who received conventional care and general patient educa- tion after the 8-week intervention and up to their 6-month follow-up.
How should the findings be used to influence policy/ practice/research/education?
• To provide evidence that the transtheoretical model–based, exercise stage–matched intervention has positive effects on exercise behaviour and quality of life in patients with coro- nary heart disease.
• It is necessary and important to provide patients with cor- onary heart disease with a structured, transtheoretical