Introduction:

Nowadays, it is admitted that psychosocial variables such as stress, social support and social representation of the disease affect the levels of adherence and metabolic control of patients with diabetes mellitus.

Objective:

To determine how is addressed in the scientific literature, the impact of these psychosocial variables in patients with diabetes mellitus and in the control of the disease.

Methods:

A documentary review, whose object of study were the investigations carried out on the social representation, stress and social support in patients with diabetes mellitus. It was established as the search criteria those academic articles that will work these variables from 2016. The web sites reviewed were the electronic databases: EBSCO, PubMed, SciELO, Dialnet, ScienceDirect and Scopus, and Google Scholar. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, there were quoted a total of 47 articles, of an initial number of 92.

Conclusions:

The inadequate representation of diabetes mellitus affects the emotional state and the therapeutic adherence of patients who suffer from it. In the same way, the presence of stress and poor social support also affect these areas and the metabolic control of the disease. The conducted review confirms that the proper control and coping with diabetes mellitus require strengthening social support networks, to adapt the social representation of the disease, and to properly manage stress.

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