RESUMO
Type II diabetes, can be controlled by medical treatment and self care behaviors, however the patients often fail to comply with self care behaviors. Concerning the role of family in supporting patients' self care behaviors, the aim of this study is to determine the effect of a family-centered education of self care behaviors based on family- centered empowerment model on patients with type II diabetes. The quasi-experimental design carried out on 40 patients with type II diabetes who were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The education of self care behaviors in four domains [nutrition, physical activity and exercise, medications, complications and foot care] for intervention group and their families was performed. Data were collected by a valid and reliable questionnaire. The scores of self care behaviors before and after the education were measured. Data were analyzed by the SPSSI6 software. Findings: Prior to education, there was no significant difference between self-care behaviors scores in both intervention and control groups [p>0/05]. After education, self-care behaviors of the intervention group in total scores and also in all domains were increased and statistically were significant [p<0/05], while there was no significant change in the control group. The findings showed that this education method improved self-care behaviors among patients with type II diabetes. These results can be used in the other chronic diseases and different levels of nursing care