Quantitative component
We recruited a convenience sample of patients returning for
routine post-CABG check-up appointments at one medical
centre in Taipei. Cohen (1988) recommended a power of
0Æ80 and moderate effect size (0Æ5) for the behavioural sciences;
the level of statistical significance was set at 0Æ05 for
this study. For the purpose of this study, which had three
main variables and used Cohen’s formula (Munro 2001), we
needed a sample size of 77. The final sample size was 100
participants: 50 men and 50 women. The inclusion criteria
were: (a) CABG surgery in the past 5 years; (b) being able
to read Chinese and (c) a willingness to participate in the
research. Patients who had a psychiatric diagnosis were
excluded.