Introduction:  Type  2  diabetes  millitus  causes  a  heavy  burden  on  individuals,  their  families  and  the 

community  because  it  affects  quality  of  life  and  requires  long-term  and  comprehensive  health  care. 

Self-care knowledge is an important factor influencing patients' self-care behavior to reduce the impact 

and progression of the diabetes mellitus.  

Objectives:  The  study  was  conducted  to  find  out  some  factors  related  to  self-care  knowledge  of 

patients  with  type  2  diabetes  in  Thai  Nguyen  province  tool  such  as  the  30-item Diabetes  Self-care 

Knowledge (DSCK-30). 

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study, using the toolkit to assess the 30-item Diabetes Self-care 

Knowledge (DSCK-30) of  patients  with  diabetes  mellitus,  was  conducted  on  408  2TDM  patients  at 

Thai Nguyen National Hospital.

Results:  Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus had good self-care knowledge; the mean total score of 

knowledge was 21.20 ± 5.25 out of 30 scores. Self-care knowledge scores ranged from  7 to 30. The 

percentage  of  patients  with  self-care  knowledge  was  still  low,  accounting  for  53.9%.  Educational 

qualification (t-test =  -6,522; p = 0.000) and income (t-test =  -2.32; p = 0.009) were related to self-care 

knowledge of patients with diabetes mellitus

Conclusion:  It is necessary to have a program of counseling and education on self -care knowledge for 

people  with  diabetes  mellitus  (drug  compliance,  diet,  physical  activity,  blood  glucose  monitoring, 

prevention of complications  and other essential  self-care  knowledge)  for patients to raise awareness, 

thereby  changing  self-care  behaviors  to  help  patients  control  blood  glucose   level  well,  prevent 

complications and improve quality of life