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.

These findings indicate that the health mentoring program is an effective intervention for community-dwelling vulnerable elderly individuals with diabetes. This program can be used as an efficient strategy for diabetes self-management within this population.