Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of social support, self -esteem, hope, and health conservation of the vulnerable elderly people with diabetes. Methods: Participants were 100 vulnerable elderly people with diabetes living in D or K cities. Data collection was done through interviews from February to March, 2016. Social support was measured with the MOS-SSS (Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey), self-esteem with Self-Esteem Scale, hope with the Nowotny Hope Scale, and health conservation with the Sung's Health Conservation Scale. IBM SPSS 20.0 was used to analyze descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, independent t-test, Pearson correlation, and stepwise multiple regression. Results: Factors affecting the health conservation of the vulnerable elderly people were social support, hope, education level and subjective health status. These factors explained 64.9% of the health conservation. Conclusion: It is necessary to construct a comprehensive nursing classification system for elderly people with diabetes in vulnerable class and to develop integrated health conservation program and nursing care as a new social support resource.

No abstract

Purpose: This study is to identify the effects of body composition and social support that affect the self-care behavior of the elderly with diabetes in the socially vulnerable group. Methods:The subjects of this study were 120 health care recipients registered at 5 public health centers in D city and aged 65 or older who were diagnosed with diabetes by their doctors. The data were analyzed by t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, and hierarchical multiple regression. Results:The results of this study showed that the higher the BMI, the abdominal fat percentage and the body fat percentage, the lower the self-care behaviors and social support, and the higher the basic metabolism, the higher the self-care activities. In the final model, the total explanatory power of these variables was 56.3%. Conclusions: Based on the results of this study, it is suggested that a self-care enhancement program considering the balanced body composition and high social support is developed and utilized in the socially vulnerable elderly with diabetes.