Objective:To explore the pathway of influencing factors of self-management in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) based on health belief theory.Methods:It was a cross-sectional study. A total of 210 elderly patients with T2DM admitted to Shanghai 10th People′s Hospital from January 2021 to March 2022 were selected as research subjects.The surveys of general data questionnaire, social support rating scale, the diabetes self-management scale, the health literacy survey scale for patients with chronic diseases, and the self-efficacy scale for patients with diabetes were conducted in all the subjects. The t test and Spearman correlation analysis were used to test the correlation among variables. Results:Social support, health literacy and self-efficacy were positively correlated with self-management scores in these patients ( r=0.380, 0.392, 0.274, all P<0.001). Univariate analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in self-management among patients with different age, education level, physical exercise, medical payment method, family history and sleep quality (all P<0.05). Path analysis showed that the mediating effect of social support in the relationship between health literacy and self-efficacy was significant (95% CI: 0.014-0.117), social support, self-efficacy and health literacy directly affected self-management( β=0.25, 0.27, 0.35, all P<0.01). Self-efficacy and health literacy also positively affected self-management through multiple mediators of social support ( β=0.16, 0.27, both P<0.01). Conclusion:Social support, self-efficacy and health literacy mediate in the self-management of elderly patients with T2DM complicated with chronic complications and interact with each other.