Objective To explore the effect of graded exposure therapy on kinesiophobia after radiofrequency ablation in patients with atrial fibrillation.Methods A total of 124 patients with atrial fibrillation who underwent radiofrequency ablation in Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from January 2022 to March 2023 were enrolled in this study.They were assigned to two groups according to the different nursing approaches,with 62 patients in each group.The control group received routine nursing.Graded exposure therapy was implemented in the observation group.Kinesiophobia,psyshological resilience,exercise compliance and improvement of cardiac function were compared between the two groups.Results The dimension scores of dysfunctional self,kinesiophobia,avoidance of exercise and perceived danger for heart problem of TSK-SV Heart scale in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group(all P＜0.05).The dimension scores of optimism,tenacity and strength of CD-RISC score in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group(all P＜0.05).After intervention,the exercise compliance in the observation group was better than that in the control group(P＜0.05).There was no significant difference in the left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF)or left ventricular end-diastolic diameter(LVEDD)between the two groups before and after intervention(all P＞0.05).Conclusion Graded exposure therapy can effectively attenuate the kinesiophobia and improve psychological resilience and exercise compliance in patients with atrial fibrillation after radiofrequency ablation,which is worthy of popularization.