Diabetes is a growing health problem and the risk of getting diabetes is increasing with age. Beside diabetes, older persons often have several diseases which makes their situation complex. Self-care is an important part of treatment and how the older persons experience this is relatively unknown. The aim of the literature review was to investigate how older persons with diabetes experience self-care to find out how support for self-care can be developed. Systematic searches were made in the databases Cinahl, Pub/Medline and PsychInfo for the period 2007-2017. Fifteen articles were found and analysed using a descriptive synthesis. Three themes were identified: 1) To be responsive to the body's signals, 2) To be able to understand the life situation, and 3) To participate creates security. Older persons with diabetes usually had good knowledge of self-care but had difficulty to perform it. The result indicates that to support older people with diabetes to self-care, nurses need more knowledge how to involve and support older people in their care, create support-groups and meeting others with the same diagnosis, and develop a person-centred action plan.