Objective To construct a home care readiness program for caregivers of patients with chronic heart failure based on the McMaster Family Functioning Model and explore its application effects. Methods The program was developed through literature analysis,expert correspondence and pre-testing. 86 pairs of patients with chronic heart failure and their caregivers who were admitted to the Department of Cardiology of a tertiary-level hospital in Bengbu City were conveniently selected from December 2023 to April 2024 as the study subjects. Using the coin-flip method,the patients were randomly divided into 43 pairs in an experimental group and 43 pairs in a control group on a ward-by-ward basis. The experimental group implemented the program on the basis of routine care,and the control group was given routine care. Differences in caregiver home care readiness,caregiver caregiving ability and patients’ quality of life were compared between the 2 groups at the time of admission,at the time of discharge,and 1 and 3 months after discharge. Results A total of 81 pairs of patients and their caregivers completed the intervention,with 41 in the experimental group and 40 in the control group. Repeated-measures ANOVA showed that there was an interaction effect between time and group for caregiver home care readiness,caregiver caregiving ability,and patient quality of life in both groups(F=320.995,P<0.001;F=83.303,P<0.001;F=113.283,P<0.001). Simple effect analyses showed that caregiver home care readiness and caregiver caregiving competence scores were higher in the experimental group than those in the control group at the time of discharge and at 1 and 3 months post-discharge(P<0.001);quality of life scores of patients in the experimental group were lower than it in the control group at 1 and 3 months post-discharge(P<0.001). Conclusion The implementation of the program can effectively improve the home care readiness and caregiving ability of caregivers of patients with chronic heart failure,and improve the quality of life of patients.