Abstract： Objective:To explore the barriers and facilitators of exercise rehabilitation in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) after radiofrequency ablation.Methods:From March to August 2022, 285 patients with atrial fibrillation who underwent radiofrequency ablation within three months were recruited from the "Cloud Ward" of the Department of Cardiovascular of the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University by convenience sampling. The Cardiac Rehabilitation Barriers Scale (CRBS) and the Self-efficacy for Exercise Scale (SEE) were used to evaluate the barriers and self-efficacy of patients participating in exercise rehabilitation, respectively. Among them, 22 patients were subjected to semi-structured interviews to extract themes.Results:Among 285 patients with atrial fibrillation, 202 (70.88%) participated in exercise rehabilitation programs. Work/time conflicts, lack of cardiac rehabilitation knowledge, and health/physical function limitations affected the participation of patients in exercise rehabilitation ( P<0.05). Qualitative research extracted three themes that affected the patient's exercise rehabilitation, including capability, opportunity, and motivation. Conclusions:The participation of atrial fibrillation patients in exercise rehabilitation is influenced by multiple factors such as family responsibility, capability, motivation, and opportunity. Medical and nursing staff should comprehensively consider the above factors, develop targeted interventions from all aspects and multiple angles, so as to effectively improve the participation of patients in exercise rehabilitation.