the role of self-efficacy in self-care among diabetic patients

background: diabetes is one of the chronic and prevalent diseases in the world. the number of diabetic patients has increased 7 times during the last 20 years. if the current trend continues, there will be 350 million diabetics in 2030. it means that 7 million people will be patients annually. up to now, different unadjustable factors have been monitored in self-care for diabetes to manage and prevent its early and late side effects. this research was conducted to evaluate the role of self-efficacy as a determinant agent in self-care of diabetic patients. methods: this narrative review study used various databases and search engines such as pubmed, proquest, scopus, and elsevier. diabetes, self-care, and self-efficacy were searched as keywords and cross-sectional, cohort, clinical trial, and systematic reviews were included. iranian databases, such as iranmedex and medlib, and different articles from domestic research and scientific magazines were selected. the studies were only included if they were published during 1990-2011. results: both self-care and self-efficacy were at low levels among diabetic patients. the findings of the evaluated studies proved a direct relation between self-efficacy and self-care in the patients. therefore, self-efficacy can well predict self-care behaviors. conclusion: self-care has a significant role in controlling diabetes. self-efficacy can directly motivate patients toward health promoting behaviors through efficacy expectations. it also indirectly affects motivation through perceived barriers and determining commitment or stability for following the function map. therefore, self-efficacy is very important in changing the process of self-care behaviors.