Introduction: self-care activities require a lot of adaptation by people living with type 2 diabetes. Context: existing interventions to support self-care are often determined by a conventional vision focused on managing the disease. Objective: this article aims to present the difficulties of people living with type 2 diabetes in relation with the Audulv, Asplund and Norbergh self-care integration model. Method: a narrative review of the literature on self-care in adults with type 2 diabetes was conducted using the CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PASCAL, and FRANCIS databases. Results: Twenty-nine articles were selected. The main difficulties related to self-care were identified according to the four phases of the self-care integration model and the four factors related to the person’s life context. Discussion: nurses could use the Audulv model to understand the difficulties that their patients face, thus enabling them to better intervene. Conclusion: further studies are needed to develop strategies to support people according to each of the identified difficulties.