Objective. Knowledge, belief, and behavior model (knowledge-attitude-practice (KAP)) is known as a cognitive model. Health education is important to the prognosis of patients, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. However, the investigation regarding health education based on the KAP model is few. Thus, this work is aimed at analyzing the influence of nurse-led health education on self-management ability, satisfaction, and compliance of elderly patients with COPD based on knowledge, belief, and practice model. Methods. 60 elderly patients with COPD cured in our hospital from January 2019 to April 2021 were enrolled for the study. The patients were randomly assigned to control group ( n = 30 ) and study group ( n = 30 ). The former group received routine nursing, and the latter group accepted health education based on “knowledge, belief, and practice” model. Finally, the scores of nursing satisfaction, KAP score, compliance rate, self-management level, pulmonary function, and life quality were compared in the two groups. Results. The nursing satisfaction of the study group (100.00%) was higher than that (83.33%) of the control group ( P < 0.05 ). The scores of knowledge, attitude, and behavior were remarkably higher in the study group than in the control group after nursing ( P < 0.05 ). Moreover, KAP scores also significantly increased in the study group after nursing. The compliance rate of the study group (93.33%) was higher than that of the control group (66.67%) ( P < 0.05 ). After nursing, the scores of symptom management, daily life management, emotion management, information management, and management efficiency were higher in the study group than in the control group ( P < 0.05 ). In addition, pulmonary functions were improved in the two groups following nursing. Compared with the control groups, the 6 min walking distance, FEV1%, and FEV1/FVC% were higher in the study group ( P < 0.05 ). After nursing, the scores of life quality were reduced in the two groups. The scores of physiological function, psychological function, social function, and health self-cognition were lower in the study group than in the control group ( P < 0.05 ). Conclusion. Based on the model of knowledge, belief, and practice, nurse-led health education can successfully enhance the self-management ability, satisfaction, and compliance of elderly COPD patients.