en Nursing Original Article <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><b>Background:</b> Sustaining lifestyle modifications after discharge remains a major challenge in coronary artery disease (CAD) care because routine discharge planning often fails to support long-term self-management. Although the IDEAL (Include, Discuss, Educate, Assess, Listen) program improves transitional care, its specific effect on lifestyle behaviors among patients with CAD in cardiac care units (CCU) remains underexplored. This study evaluated the effect of an IDEAL Discharge Program incorporating the teach-back technique on the lifestyles of these patients.<br> <b>Methods:</b> In this single-blind randomized trial, 60 patients with CAD (Kashan, Iran, 2024) were allocated either to an intervention group that received the IDEAL Discharge Program incorporating the teach-back technique through daily 30-minute bedside sessions and four post-discharge calls or to a control group that received routine care and non-educational calls. Lifestyle behaviors were assessed at baseline and at 1 and 2 months after discharge using the Standard Lifestyle Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA and t-tests.<br> <b>Results:</b> The groups were comparable at baseline (P>0.05). At baseline and at 1 and 2 months post-intervention, the total lifestyle scores in the intervention group were 238.03&plusmn;30.57, 256.43&plusmn;32.32, and 275.43&plusmn;29.87, respectively. Scores in the control group increased transiently before declining below baseline. Repeated-measures ANOVA revealed significant effects of time, group, and time&times;group (all P<0.001), and post-hoc tests confirmed significant within-group improvements at 1 and 2 months (both P<0.001). At 2 months, total scores in the intervention group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.001), although the Psychological Health, Avoidance of Drugs, and Accident Prevention dimensions showed no significant between-group differences.<br> <b>Conclusion</b>: The IDEAL Discharge Program incorporating the teach-back technique significantly improved overall lifestyle behaviors in patients with CAD and provides a practical framework for supporting post-discharge self-management in cardiac care settings.</span></span></div> Life Style, Coronary Artery Disease, Cardiac Intensive Care (Critical Care), IDEAL Discharge Program 0 0 http://nmj.goums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-260-5&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Raheleh Torabi Torabi_R@YAHOO.COM 100319475328460018731 0009-0002-0343-0930 No Trauma Nursing Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran Elham Ghafor Ghafour_E@yahoo.com 100319475328460018732 0009-0004-7976-830X No Department of Anesthesiology, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran Akram Yazdani Yazdani_A@YAHOO.COM 100319475328460018733 100319475328460018733 No Autoimmune Diseases Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran Neda Mirbagher Ajorpaz salam_20012003@yahoo.co.uk 100319475328460018734 100319475328460018734 Yes Autoimmune Diseases Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran Fatemeh Keshavarzian Keshavarzian_f@yahoo.co.uk 100319475328460018735 0009-0005-2444-8859 No Student Research Committee, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran