<![CDATA[Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a chronic disease that requires good, consistent, and sustainable self-care practices. Good self-care practices can prevent disease complications and disability, improve quality of life, and reduce the burden on healthcare services. However, the ability and level of self-care practices vary between patients. The purpose of this study was to analyze how self-care is practiced in Type 2 DM patients and its implications for nursing practice. The research method was quantitative, with a descriptive analytical design. Purposive sampling was used to select 156 DM patients. The research instrument, The Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities (SDSCA) , which has been validated and covers 5 aspects. Data were analyzed using a frequency distribution. The results showed that the overall level of self-care was more than half in the good category (67.95%). Medication adherence was the highest aspect (95.5%) in the good category, blood sugar monitoring was 78.2% in the good category, and foot care showed a good category (63.5%). Meanwhile, aspects of diet and physical activity (both 51.3%) were the lowest domains and required more attention. These findings indicate that self-care in diabetes patients is suboptimal in terms of lifestyle. The implication for nursing practice is the need for a structured, personalized, and community-based educational approach to increase patient motivation and independence in managing diet and physical activity to prevent long-term complications.]]>
