Purpose: This study was conducted to develop and test the effects of a motivational interviewing self-management program for usewith elderly patients with diabetes mellitus. Methods: A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. The participantswere 42 elderly diabetic patients (experimental group: 21, control group: 21). The motivational interviewing self-managementprogram for elders with diabetes mellitus developed in this study consisted of a 12-week program in total (8 weeks for group motivationalinterviewing and education and 4 weeks for individual motivational interviewing on the phone). Data were collected betweenFebruary 13 and May 3, 2013 and were analyzed using t-test, paired t-test, and repeated measure ANOVA with SPSS/WIN18.0. Results: For the experimental group, significant improvement was found for self-efficacy, self-care behavior, glycemic controland quality of life (daily life satisfaction, influence of disease) as compared to the control group. Conclusion: The study findings indicatethat the motivational interviewing self-management program is effective and can be recommended as a nursing interventionfor elderly patients with diabetes mellitus.