Journal of Preventive Medicine

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Introduction: Diabetes is the most common metabolic disorder in humans and its management through self-care is required. Since there is no documentation of the patient's experience or understanding of the concept of self-care and the concept of care of patients with diabetes can play a role in the design of functional models of care in these patients, this study designed to explain the concept of self-care of patients with diabetes type II. Methods: In this qualitative content analysis study enrolled fifteen 33-68 year-old men and women with type II diabetes who were selected through purposeful sampling in Rudan city. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Interviews carried out using an interview guide for the duration of 25-55 minutes. To analyze the data, qualitative content analysis method was used. Results: By analyzing data on the self-care concept two main categories including the protective aspect of self-care and the economic aspect of self-care were extracted. The protective aspect of self-care consists of three subcategories including personal protection, family protection, and protection of society and economic aspects of self-care consists of two subcategories including economy of families and the economy of society. Conclusion: The various distinct aspects of the concept of self-care which were obtained in this study can be used as the basis for planning a successful self-care training program.