Introduction: Diabetes is a debilitating disease negatively affects the job performance and quality of life of patients. Since type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease and creates disability and the patients need lifetime care, the quality of life in patients is highly affected by this disease and its implications. This study aimed to determine the relationship between self-esteem, resilience and quality of life among patients with type 2 diabetes in Hamadan City.

Methods: In this analytical cross-sectional study, 186 patients with type 2 diabetes who had medical records in Hamadan Diabetes Center were examined, in 2015. Data collection instruments included: Coppersmith’s self-esteem inventory, Connor-Davidson resilience scale and the World Health Organization’s quality of life questionnaire. Data analysis was performed via SPSS 19 software utilizing descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, multiple regression and independent T-test.

Results: Two variables: self-esteem (P<0.001) and resilience (P=0.02) had a significant correlation with quality of life of diabetic patients. However, the regression analysis showed that only self-esteem could predict significantly the quality of life (P<0.001). Also, there was a significant difference in variables of the quality of life (P=0.021), self-esteem (P=0.02) and resilience (P=0.008) between two groups of male and female patients.

Conclusion: The quality of in patients with diabetes is improved life with increasing self-esteem and resilience of them. Offering suitable strategies to raise self-esteem and resilience in diabetic patients causes an improvement of quality of life in these patients.