To investigate the effect of problem-oriented nursing intervention on self-care ability and disease perception ability of elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Totally 42 elderly patients with T2DM in the No.971 Hospital of Chinese PLA Navy from November 2016 to November 2018 were selected for 6 months of problem-oriented nursing intervention. The blood glucose control, self-care ability and disease perception ability of patients before and after nursing intervention were compared. The self-care ability was evaluated by the summary of diabetes self-care activities questionnaire, and the disease perception ability was evaluated by brief illness perception questionnaire. T test was used to compare the indexes before and after intervention.

After nursing intervention, the levels of fasting blood glucose, 2-hour postprandial blood glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin of patients decreased (t=5.138, 14.188, 4.926, P < 0.05), and the scores of self-care ability (including general diet, specific diet, exercise, blood sugar testing, foot care and smoking) and disease perception ability (including cognitive representation, emotional representation, illness coherence) were improved (t=14.730, 12.965, 6.414, 10.995, 10.525, 10.502, 9.879, 10.926, 23.622, P < 0.05).

Problem-oriented nursing intervention can better control blood glucose in elderly patients with T2DM by improving their self-care ability and disease perception ability.