Objective  To examine the intention of participating in "Internet +" health management and its influencing factors among community diabetes patients and to provide evidences for the implementation of "Internet +" diabetes management.

  Methods  Using cluster sampling and self-designed questionnaires during August 2018, we conducted a face-to-face survey on intention of participating in "Internet +" health management among 18 – 70 years old diabetes patients (n = 968) recruited at 76 community health centers in Futian district of Shenzhen city, Guangdong province.

  Results  For the 908 patients with valid data, the mean overall score of intension of participating in "Internet +" health management was 24.29 ± 2.61; the scores indicating the participation intention-related cognitions or attitudes were 3.47 ± 0.34 for benefit expectation, 3.42 ± 0.32 for endeavor expectation, 3.33 ± 0.28 for social impact, 3.54 ± 0.37 for perceived threat, 3.61 ± 0.41 for perceived risk, 3.38 ± 0.31 for health concept, and 3.54 ± 0.58 for utilization attitude, respectively. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that the patients aged > 45 years (β = 0.631), with higher education (β = 1.743), with public medical insurance (β = 2.468) and using mobile applications frequently (β = 1.869) were more likely to have a strong intention to participate in “Internet +” health management.

  Conclusion  Age, education, type of medical insurance and frequency of mobile application use are main influencing factors of intention of participation in “Internet +” health management among community diabetes patients.