Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) patients often consider the status of their cardiovascular disease and recovery to be of minimal concern because of the short hospital stay, rapid procedural technique, and immediate potential success of PTCA without requiring open-heart surgery. The relative ease of the PTCA procedure may reduce patients' fears and thus decrease their motivation to reduce known cardiac risk factors after the procedure. A pilot study of this problem was performed to identify and examine the experiences, perceptions, and motivation for life-style changes in patients electively scheduled for PTCA.