Objective:

To identify, from a gender focused perspective, differences in the self-management of diabetes mellitus type 2.

Methodology:

An integrative review was conducted on several databases. 24 articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria - 13 quantitative and 11 qualitative. The articles were mainly published in the USA and Canada.

Results:

On the one hand, women were found to comply better with proper diets and medication prescriptions, but showed having less social support and more psychological problems, a situation which they tended to address through religion, pray, faith, and spirituality. On the other hand, men were found to comply better with proper physical activity programs, but showed having less knowledge and more alcohol and tobacco consumption, but more social support though.

Conclusions:

Differences between men and women were found in relation to their self-managing of diabetes mellitus type 2. This situation prompts the nursing personnel to orient their interventions with a gender focused perspective. For instance, women need to improve their exercising and also receive more social, psychological and spiritual supports, while men need to improve their diet and medication related habits.