[Purpose] The purpose of this study is to describe, in a phenomenological manner, the dietary experience of diabetic persons who relate the difficulties they have with diet therapy.

[Methods] This is a phenomenological nursing study. I conducted participant observations and unstructured interviews with four participants who had been hospitalized for treatment of diabetes, mainly at regular follow-up examinations, for about a year (2015-2016) starting immediately after their hospitalization. Analysis of their utterances identified each participant's perspective, as represented in repeatedly-used casual verbal expressions about diet, of which one participant's dietary experience was described together with the relationship between "ground" and "figure," where an implication emerges from a dimension that was not clearly self-recognized.

[Results] The participant's dietary experience included: 1) She keenly attempted to copy the meals that she had been provided during her hospitalization. 2) The way she ate in hospital was different from that at home. 3) She reflected on how her ways of eating varied according to her situation.

[Discussion] Even with the intention of conscious management of diet, subconscious actions are inevitable. It was observed that persons with diabetes live in a world where they tend to "eat unthinkingly if food is in front of them," since various types of food are available all around them. Persons with diabetes reconsidered from many different perspectives the knowledge they had acquired during their clinical treatment and made sense out of the diet that evolved in diverse ways.

The purpose of this study was to "develop a nursing care guide for enhancing self-care in diabetic outpatients with autonomic neuropathy" ("the guide") for proficient nurse. First, we made a tentative guide by analyzing a previous study of patients with diabetic autonomic neuropathy in which the nursing care and its results were described in details. Next, we applied this guide to design the care provided to three model patients, tested its effectiveness and, finally, consulted expert nurses and researchers for improvement.

The guide was composed of a general introduction, explanation about using the guide and the nursing care plan which includes the nursing goal, the aspects of nursing care, the patient's goal and methods to reach those goal. Aspects of care can be categorized as: supporting the symptom management, supporting the arrangement of a safe living, and supporting comfortable daily life. As a result of using the guide during nursing care intervention, we noticed a better management of symptoms, an increase in feelings of safety and comfort, and an increased self-confidence in patients.

This study suggests, that a holistic, relevant and flexible approach to care using the guide we developed can meet the multiple and diverse needs of patients with diabetic autonomic neuropathy.