Objective To explore the effect of peer support education on self-management ability and survival quality of urbanized type 2 diabetes patients in rural areas. Methods From January to September 2015, a total of 117 patients with type 2 diabetes were selected from three large-scale living communities of Fengxian District.Then,they were randomly divided into observation group(58 cases)and control group (59 cases) using random number method, respectively. And the same health education contents were conducted for the patients in both two groups.The patients in control group were educated by the diabetic nurse in classroom. Additionally, the peer support education was conducted for these patients in observation group for 6 months on this basis.The diabetes patient's self-management behavior scale and 36-item Short-Form Health Survey Questionnaire(SF-36)were used to assess the patients before intervention and 6 months later,respectively.Besides,the level of glycosylated hemoglobin was measured by the automatic biochemical analyzer. The self- management ability and survival quality and glycometabolism level were assessed as well. Results 6 months later after intervention, the survival quality score in observation group was as following:physical function(PF) 73.6±11.5,role physical(RP) 86.7 ± 14.5, body pain (BP) 76.3 ± 12.3, general health (GH) 64.5 ± 13.6, vitality (VT) 67.5 ± 12.3, social function (SF) 87.1 ± 16.2, role emotional (RE) 81.1 ± 14.2, mental health (MH) 68.9 ± 12.6, while that in control group was as following:physical function(PF)51.3±10.6,role physical(RP)62.1±12.1,body pain (BP)51.3±10.8,general health(GH)51.1±11.6,vitality(VT)56.4±12.1,social function(SF)70.1±14.1, role emotional (RE) 71.2 ± 13.9, mental health (MH) 56.1 ± 10.8 (t=2.316-6.365, P<0.05). The self-management score in observation group was following:diet management 5.79±0.98,exercise management 5.41 ± 0.57, blood glucose monitoring 4.01 ± 0.90, foot care 5.26 ± 0.89, drug administration 4.47 ± 0.90, smoking 0.86 ± 0.34, while that in control group was following: diet management 3.62 ± 0.99, exercise management 3.66 ± 0.94, blood glucose monitoring 1.90 ± 0.84, foot care 2.54 ± 0.62, drug administration 3.73 ± 0.80, smoking 0.76 ± 0.42 (t=4.659-19.137, P of rest was less than 0.01 except that of smoking equaled to 0.172 and t=1.375). Conclusions Peer support education can improve the quality of life, enhance self-management ability, control the level of glucose metabolism and has a strong operability. Therefore,it is worthy of promotion.