Patients undergoing cardiac surgery may experience difficulty performing breathing exercises after surgery, which can increase the risk of respiratory complications. Incentive spirometry is a breathing exercise technique commonly used to support lung function; however, patients may not always perform this exercise correctly or frequently enough. This study aims to evaluate the effect of a structured incentive spirometry education program based on the teach-back method on patients' ability to perform the exercise correctly and their frequency of use after cardiac surgery.

This randomized controlled study will include 60 patients admitted for elective cardiac surgery at a university hospital in Türkiye. Participants will be randomly assigned to either a routine care group or an intervention group. Patients in the intervention group will receive structured incentive spirometry education using the teach-back method in addition to routine care, while the control group will receive routine care only. The ability to perform incentive spirometry correctly and the frequency of exercise use will be evaluated. The findings of this study may provide information about effective education strategies to improve postoperative breathing exercise practices in cardiac surgery patients.