Barriers to Proactive Health Management Among Elderly Patients With Coronary Heart Disease in Rural Areas: A Qualitative Study.

To explore the lived experiences, perceived barriers, and internal unmet needs related to proactive health management among rural elderly patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Descriptive qualitative study. Using purposive maximum variation sampling, we recruited participants from rural elderly inpatients. All subjects were diagnosed with CHD and hospitalized at Shenyang Fourth People's Hospital between May and July 2025. Seventeen eligible participants completed face-to-face interviews lasting 40-60 min each. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Inductive