title: Importance of social support in diabetes care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Diabetes is one of the major concerns in the third millennium, affecting more people every day. The prevalence of this disease in Iran is reported to be high (about 7.7%). The most important method to control this disease and prevent its complications is self-care. According to various studies, this method has not found its proper place among patients with diabetes due to several reasons. The present study was aimed at determining the relationship between social support, especially family support, and self-care behavior of diabetes patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a narrative review in which the relevant papers of cross-sectional, cohort, clinical trial, and systematic review designs were selected using databases and scientific search engines such as PubMed, ProQuest, SCOPUS, and Elsevier, with the keywords diabetes, social support, and self-care. Moreover, Persian papers were selected from MEDLAB and IRANMEDEX databases and through searching the websites of original research papers published in Iran. All the papers published from 1990 to 2011 were reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results of the study indicated that the status of self-care and social support in patients with diabetes was not favorable. All the studied papers showed that there was a positive relationship between social support and self-care behavior. Also, some studies pointed to the positive effect of social support, especially family support and more specifically support from the spouse, on controlling blood sugar level and HbA1c.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As social support can predict the health promoting behavior, this concept is also capable of predicting self-care behavior of patients with diabetes. Therefore, getting the family members, especially the spouse, involved in self-care behavior can be of significant importance in providing health care to patients with diabetes.
authors: Department of Education and Health Promotion, School of Public Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors: Ghalmreza Sharfi
authors: GS
authors: Rad
authors: Department of Nutrition, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors: Leila Azad
authors: LA
authors: Bakht
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatics, School of Public Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors: Avat
authors: A
authors: Feizi
authors: Department of Public Health, School of Public Health, Qom University Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.
authors: Siamak
authors: S
authors: Mohebi
keywords: Diabetes; self-care; social support