Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of nursing intervention based on a positive motivational model on cardiac function, self-management, and life quality in elderly patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).

Patients and methods: A total of 112 elderly CHD patients were picked as the subjects of this research from August 2021 to August 2022. All patients were randomized to the observation group and regular group by a two-color sampling method, with 56 cases in each group. Subjects in the regular group and observation group received traditional interventions and additional positive motivational model nursing interventions, respectively. The cardiac function [left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end-systolic diameter (LVESD), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD)], sports endurance, self-management ability, psychological status [depression self-assessment scale (SDS), anxiety self-assessment scale (SAS)], and life quality before and after the intervention were compared between two groups. The readiness for discharge scores and satisfaction with nursing care were compared between the two groups after the intervention.

Results: After the intervention, the LVEF levels of the patients in both groups were elevated, and the LVESD and LVEDD levels were sharply decreased (p < 0.05). The improvement in cardiac function indexes was more evident in the observation group than in the regular group (p < 0.001). The readiness for discharge score of patients was markedly higher in the observation group than in the regular group (p < 0.01). After the intervention, the self-management score and sports endurance score of patients in both groups were evidently elevated (p < 0.05), which were much higher in the observation group than in the control (p < 0.001). The nursing satisfaction of patients in the observation group was 92.86%, much higher than 73.21% in the regular group (p < 0.05). The observation group had much lower SDS and SAS scores than the regular group after the intervention (p < 0.001). After the intervention, the observation group had a much higher life quality score than the regular group (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The nursing intervention model based on the positive motivation model could significantly improve the cardiac function, discharge readiness, sports endurance, and self-management behavior of elderly patients with CHD, thereby improving their quality of life and achieving higher patient satisfaction.