BACKGROUND: Low self-efficacy in chronic disease patients is one of the main disturbances which require physical and mental rehabilitation, calling for the development of a home accessible way to improve self-management. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of a community based Baduanjin exercise on self-efficacy in adults with cardiovascular disease. DESIGN: A randomized controlled trial, longitudinal research design was employed. PARTICIPANTS: After screening by health documents in Community Health Service Station, a total of 134 patients with records of cardiovascular diseases were had been enrolled according to the following inclusion criteria: 1) Community dwelling adults in Xili Community; 2) Patients diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases by community doctors, or other clinicians in health records in the past 3 years (2013 to 2015); (3) independent walking. Participants were excluded if they: 1) had impaired mobility and limited extremities functionality; 2) had not been in stable health condition and could not adhere to the exercise regime; 3) had communication difficulties and limited ability to follow instructions. METHODS: Participants were randomly assigned to the Baduanjin group or the control group. Those in the Baduanjin group received 16 weeks of Baduanjin exercise training, while those in the control group kept the original exercise mode unchanged. The Self-Efficacy for Managing Chronic Disease 6-item Scale (SEMCD6) was administered to subjects before and after intervention. RESULTS: Demographic data showed that 65.12% of the enrolled 129 participants were aged 65 or older, 92.25% received less than 12 years of education, and 68.21% participants' monthly income was less than 1999 RMB. Before intervention, SEMCD6 scores of 86.36% participants in Baduanjin group were below 7 points, while 85.71% in control group; after 16 weeks of Baduanjin exercise, SEMCD6 scores lower than 7 points in Baduanjin group (21.21%) were significantly lower than that of the control group (84.13%). The increase of SEMCD6 scores in Baduanjin group was statistically significant in the confidence to keep the fatigue, to keep the physical discomfort or pain, to keep the emotional distress and do the different tasks and activities (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Adults with cardiovascular diseases in community have lower level of education, most of whom have a low monthly income; thus, community dwelling cardiovascular disease patients are more suitable for an economic program to persist their long term management of the disease. Baduanjin is a traditional Chinese medicine regimen with less physical and cognitive demand; community based exercise of Baduanjin could help to increase self-efficacy in patients with cardiovascular diseases, thus better self-management of rehabilitation process.

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