Objective To understand the status quo of dietary health belief in elderly maintenance hemodialysis patients and analyze its influencing factors, so as to provide a reference for clinical formulation of preventive nursing interventions. Methods A total of 230 elderly maintenance hemodialysis patients were selected by convenience sampling method, then they were investigated by utilizing a general information questionnaire, the Hemodialysis Patients′ Dietary Health Belief Questionnaire, the Patient Activation Measure and the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire. Results The score of dietary health belief in the participants was (76.65±14.81). The score of dietary health belief was positively correlated with the score of self-management activation, and negatively correlated with the score of illness perception (both P<0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that, gender, educational background, self-management activation and illness perception were the influencing factors of dietary health belief in elderly maintenance hemodialysis patients (all P<0.05), which explained 63.20% of the total variance. Conclusion The dietary health belief in elderly maintenance hemodialysis patients is at a medium level, and it is influenced by many factors. Medical staff should take preventive nursing intervention measures, give patients more information support, and improve their dietary health belief level. Keywords: the elderly;maintenance hemodialysis;dietary health belief;self-management activation;illness perception