Patients in the C group received only conventional care provided by the hospitals. Patients in the PE group received conventional care, a two-hour patient education session and a booklet about cardiac rehabilitation (which had been developed by the Hong Kong Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention Centre of Tung Wah Hospital and the organisation, Care for Your Heart), and eight weekly sessions of general patient education about exercise either via face-to-face or telephone contacts based on the availability of the patients; but each patient must receive two sessions of face-to-face contact.