Objective To construct a discharge preparation program for patients with enterostomy based on the Capacity, Opportunity, Motivation-Behavior (COM-B) theoretical model, and evaluate its effectiveness in clinical practice.

Methods Guided by the COM-B theoretical model, the discharge preparation plan for patients with enterostomy was formulated based on the literature retrieval, semi-structured interviews and Delphi expert inquiry method. By using the convenience sampling method, 85 patients with enterostomy in the gastrointestinal ward of a tertiary hospital were selected as the research subjects. The control group were given the routine enterostomy care, while the observation group were treated with the discharge preparation plan based on the COM theoretical model on the basis of routine care.

Results The response rates of both Delphi rounds were 100%, with an expert authority coefficient of 0.86. The Kendall’s coefficients of concordance for importance and feasibility were 0.114 and 0.319 in the first round, and 0.246 and 0.277 in the second round (P ＜ 0.01). The coefficient of variation for each item in the second round was less than 0.25. The finalized program consisted of 4 primary categories, 7 secondary categories and 34 tertiary items. Five patients withdrew during the study. Eventually, 40 cases in each of the observation group and the control group completed the study. The discharge readiness and stoma adaptation ability of patients in the observation group after 1 and 3 months of discharge were higher than those in control group (P ＜ 0.05 to P ＜ 0.01). The anxiety and depression scores in the observation group after 1 month of discharge were lower than those in control group (P ＜ 0.05 and P ＜ 0.01), and the incidence of stoma complications was lower than that in control group (P ＜ 0.05).

Conclusions The discharge preparation program for enterostomy patients based on the COM-B theoretical model is scientific, feasible, and practical. It can improve the discharge preparation degree and adaptability of enterostomy patients, improve negative emotions, reduce the incidence of enterostomy complications, and improve the quality of life of patients.