Lay summary
Every year in NZ there are over 12,000 hospital admissions for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD), costing $60 million annually. Many of these admissions are due to repeat episodes of AECOPD. We propose to conduct a clinical trial to test the effectiveness of a behavioural intervention to help people take charge of their health condition after discharge from hospital for AECOPD and to facilitate greater uptake of pulmonary rehabilitation – an existing programme of exercise and education that is known to reduce hospitalisation rates for AECOPD, but for which there is currently low uptake. Our feasibility study includes evaluation of current AECOPD rates for the sample size calculation in the full study, plus evaluation of recruitment and retention rates; the acceptability, cultural appropriateness, and cost of the behaviour intervention; the suitability of training and support for personnel delivering the intervention; and a test of intervention fidelity.