Experiências, necessidades e expectativas de pessoas com diabetes mellitus

This study aims to identify the experiences, needs and expectations of subjects with diabetes, for selfreliance for health promotion. It is a descriptive/exploratory, qualitative, in the program Estrategia Saude da Familia (Family Health Strategy) in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. They participated in three rounds of conversation with 44 people. The data were submitted to thematic content analysis and generated the following categories: recognizing the rights and responsibilities; the capacity to decide responsibly; and protagonism of subjects. Experiences are described, needs and expectations of individuals with diabetes on autonomy, self-care and quality of life, to carry out a survey, together with subjects with diabetes, on aspects that serve to build proposals for health promotion actions. In conclusion, it is necessary to analyze the health promotion for self-reliance, considering the respect for choices of people with diabetes.