Objectives: to analyze the sociodemographic and clinical variables related to the adherence to self-care activities in people with diabetes mellitus type 2.
Methods: quantitative, cross-sectional study, carried out with 270 people with diabetes from December 2019 to October 2020, in São Luís, Maranhão.
Results: the adherence to self-care was greater when it comes to medications (Md=7.0) and foot care (Md= 6.0), but lower in regard to blood sugar testing (Md=1.0), exercise (Md=2,0), and diet (general) (Md=4.0). The variables age group (p=0.007), educational level (p=0.015), body mass index (p=0.035), complications with diabetes (p=0.009), and nutritional follow-up (p=0.000) had associations with self-care activities.
Conclusions: identifying the factors related to the adherence to self-care was found to be essential to strengthen the line of care in chronic diseases and to direct educational actions, aiming to improve the quality of life of people with diabetes.