Purpose: To assess if patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) receiving periodontal debridement for treatment of chronic periodontitis with ultrasonic or hand instrumentation experienced changes in quality of life or incidents of illness following treatment or no treatment. Methods: The study design was a 3 group, randomized, controlled pre- and post-test experimental pilot study. Volunteers with COPD and chronic periodontitis (n=30) were recruited from physician offices or fliers and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups. Of those, 2 groups had periodontal debridement using either magnetostrictive ultrasonic instrumentation (n=10) or hand instrumentation (n=10). A control group (n=10) received no treatment. Primary outcomes, quality of life and illness were measured by the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ-A) and Illness Questionnaire, respectively. Subjects completed In this controlled, randomized study we explored the effects of an uncertainty management intervention on uncertainty, anxiety, depression, and quality of life (QOL) of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) outpatients in China. Ninety-six COPD outpatients completed the study (n = 49 in the intervention group; n = 47 in the control group). Over the 10-month study duration, the intervention group received a cognitive behavioral intervention. Compared with the control group, the intervention group showed significant improvement in uncertainty, coping strategy, anxiety, depression, and the mental health domains of QOL after the intervention, providing the first evidence that uncertainty management can improve the emotional status and QOL of COPD outpatients. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 35:409-418, 2012.