Abstract Background Efficacy of programs for patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) that have promoted family members to help with patients’ self-care activities has been largely inconsistent. This meta-analysis aims to assess the effect of family-oriented diabetes programs for glycemic control (GC). Methods Electronic literature searches were conducted for clinical trials with a parallel design wherein there were two groups according to whether family members were included (intervention group) or not included (control group) and changes in glycohemoglobin A1C (A1C) were assessed as a study outcome. Each effect size (i.e. difference in A1C change between the intervention and control group) was pooled with a random-effects model. Results There were 31 eligible trials consisting of 1466 and 1415 patients in the intervention and control groups, respectively. Pooled A1C change [95% confidence interval (CI)] was −0.45% (−0.64% to −0.26%). Limiting analyses to 21 trials targeted at patients with type 1 DM or 9 trials targeted at patients with type 2 DM, the pooled A1C changes (95% CI) were −0.35% (−0.55% to −0.14%) and −0.71% (−1.09% to −0.33%), respectively. Conclusion This meta-analysis suggests that focusing on the family as well as the individual patient in self-management diabetes programs to improve the performance of self-care activities of patients with DM is effective in terms of proper GC.