Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that reduces the quality of life(QOL) in patients. Therefore, this research aimed to the effect of Orem's self-care model on the quality of life(QOL) in patients with type II diabetes at Ilam, Iran. A quasi-experimental study was performed on 80 patients with type II diabetes in Ilam in the year 2015. The research tools used in this study were a demographic questionnaire and the SF-36 survey. The patients were divided randomly into control and experimental groups. Orem's self-care programme was performed in six 60-90 minute sessions for six weeks in the experimental group. The data were analysed using SPSS software and descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings showed that the mean and standard deviation of the quality of life in the experimental group before and after the intervention were 47.1 ± 9.21 and 67.91 ± 12.87 respectively, which was statistically significant (P<0.001). However, in the control group it was 47.66 ± 8.4 and 47.41 ± 8.6 respectively, indicating that there was no statistically significant difference (P>0.05). Regarding the effectiveness of self-care programmes based on Orem's theory on the quality of life (QOL) in patients with diabetes, it is suggested that in nursing care this self-care programme can be used for patients with diabetes to improve their (QOL).