The high prevalence and incidence of diabetes mellitus and its complications have led to a serious growth in the demand for diabetes-related health care in the Netherlands. Since self-management by the patient is a cornerstone of the treatment plan, self-management education has become an important part of diabetes care. One aspect of self-management education is self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG). SMBG is a technique that enables patients to monitor and react to changes in their blood glucose levels, allowing them to integrate their diabetes into the life style they prefer. Furthermore, it allows physicians to gather data for clinical decision-making. However, SMBG is a relatively complex process that requires specialised equipment, counselling and follow-up. National and international pharmacy practice guidelines advocate that one of the community pharmacists' roles in diabetes care is to support patients with SMBG. Since most patients regularly visit their pharmacy, pharmacies are ideally placed to support patients managing their own diabetes. Still, to what extent these guidelines are actually implemented in daily routine is unknown. The aim of this thesis is to assess the level and the variation in the services that Dutch community pharmacies provide to patients performing blood glucose self-monitoring. Furthermore, it describes the key determinants of these self-monitoring services. The studies reveal a significant variation in the services provided by community pharmacies. This variation is the result of many factors: differences in patient characteristics between community pharmacies, pharmacy-related determinants (for example the pharmacy team's competence and the pharmacist's perceptions of SMBG) and supra-pharmacy determinants (regional differences in for example collaboration, competition and remuneration). Although these determinants have received much attention in medical care and quality assessment, few comparable studies have been performed in pharmacy practice research, especially on ...