AB STRACT:The pur pose of this study was to explore the expe ri ences of daily activ i ties among elderly patients with chronic obstruc tive pul mo nary dis ease (COPD) within 2 weeks after hos pi tal dis charge. Seven male and two female COPD patients aged 65-80 were inter viewed. Inter views were tape recorded, and then tran scribed ver ba tim within 48 hours. Data were ana lyzed accord ing to the method of qual i ta tive research through con stant com par i son and con tent anal y sis. The data gen er ated seven themes: (1) expec ta tions beyond one's strength;(2) fear of hav ing another attack; (3) slow ing and sim pli fy ing activ i ties; (4) act ing accord ing one's abil i ties; (5) pro tect ing one self; (6) striv ing for an inde pend ent life; and (7) try ing to con tinue liv ing. The find ings of this research can help health pro fes sion als understand expe ri ences of COPD patients, sen si tively and pre cisely rec og nize their daily activ ity needs, and pro vide suit able inter ven tions dur ing the dis charge tran si tion to facil i tate a better qual ity of life for elderly patients.Key Words: chronic ob struc tive pul mo nary dis ease (COPD), daily ac tiv i ties, ex pe ri ence. Intro duc tionAccord ing to sta tis tics reported by the Depart ment of Health, the mor tal ity rate of chronic obstruc tive pul monary dis ease (COPD) patients in Tai wan in 1999 was 7.23 per 100,000. It is the tenth lead ing cause of death, so it is a dis ease that can not be over looked. Accord ing to the current hos pi tal dis charge plans for COPD patients, in addition to symp tom man age ment, main tain ing daily activ ities is one of the main mea sures to keep the con di tion of these patients from dete ri o rat ing. Hainsworth (1994) pointed out that chronic dis ease patients feel a loss of control due to long-term treat ments, ill ness restric tions, or con di tions alter nat ing between better and worse and feeling that they are close to death; they also feel low self-esteem due to the changes in their func tional roles and social rela tion ships caused by their dete ri o rat ing phys i cal func tions. Find ings of research (DeVito, 1990;Dudley, Glaser, Jorgenson, & Logan, 1980;Rabinowitz & Florian, 1992) sug gest that, apart from mel an choly and anx i ety, COPD patients also suf fer from psy cho log i cal prob lems, such as low self-esteem, fear, help less ness, and lack of secu rity, as their dis ease pro gresses. In addi tion, dyspnea is one of the phys i cal prob lems found in COPD patients and is deemed the most prev a lent and recur rent prob lem. Patients may have to endure chest pain, a feel ing of lack of air, suf fo ca tion, etc. They may also expe ri ence cyanosis, cold sweat ing, irri ta bil ity, and heavy breath ing pant ing. More over, phys i cal com plaints such as fatigue, sleep dis tur bance, exces sive spu tum, lack of appe tite,

The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of exercise tolerance on quality of life (QOL) among patients with heart failure (HF). A descriptive correlational design was used to guide the study. Forty-nine participants who met the selection criteria were enrolled at a medical center in Taipei. Data were collected by using the Short-Form 36 and treadmill tests including an exercise intensity-increasing test and duration-increasing test. The results revealed the mean scores of QOL in terms of physical functioning and mental functioning were 66.99 and 68.82, respectively. The average peak VO2 (exercise intensity tolerance) was 4.65 mets. The average exercise duration tolerances were 768.55, 1717.04 and 1923.48 s for reaching 50% heart rate reserve (HRR), 90% HRR, and completing the whole test, respectively. Patients whose exercise intensity tolerance was > or = 5 mets or whose exercise duration tolerance was > or = 1800 s had better physical functioning, but a significant difference in mental functioning was not observed between the two groups. The findings of the study support the view that exercise testing is safe, feasible, and effective in evaluating exercise tolerance, and that both exercise duration and exercise intensity tolerance were important factors in determining QOL, particularly in physical functioning, for HF patients.