Methods	Parallel group RCT
Participants	Patients with heart failure who had completed a supervised exercise programme. 16 randomised, results available for 13 (adherence) and 14 (QoL), . Mean age 66. 84% male. Duncan 2003 says 16 patients
Interventions	INTERVENTION: Advice from CR staff on home exercise specific to patient’s requirements for 12 weeks. Adherence facilitation (adapted from social learning theory) consisting of goal setting and review of goal setting regarding exercise, graphic feedback and problem solving guidance delivered by a research nurse at 3 week intervals. Positive reinforcement provided if goals were not met with follow-up phone calls. Diaries collecting data on adherence were collected with mailed feed back on progress every 3 weeks COMPARISON: Advice from CR staff on home exercise specific to patients requirements for 12 weeks. Diaries collecting data on adherence was collected at 12 weeks
Outcomes	Adherence to exercise regimen at 12 weeks. Quality of life (Minnesota Living with Heart Failure questionnaire)
Notes	Duncan 2003 reports that 16 patients were randomised, whereas Duncan 2002 reports 13 were randomised. Two patients died, and two patients dropped out of the control group. Adherence results reported for 11 participants therefore onebvvgg unaccounted for
Risk of bias
Item	Authors’ judgement	Description
Adequate sequence generation?	Unclear	Not stated
Allocation concealment?	Unclear	Not stated
Free of other bias?	No	Intervention group were older than the control group and had been diagnosed with heart failure for longer (mean of 2.3 versus 3.1 years). Selection bias: participants had permission from attending cardiologist to participate. 16 patients randomised, 4 withdrawn (two died, two dropped out), one unaccounted for. Not very clear how the outcome was calculated
Blind outcome assessment? All outcomes	Unclear	Not stated