Objective To translate the Self-care Behavior Scale for Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA-SCBS) into Chinese and evaluate its reliability and validity. Methods RA-SCBS was translated， back-translated and culturally adapted to form a Chinese version. The reliability and validity of the scale were evaluated in 450 patients with rheumatoid arthritis in Lanzhou. Results By exploratory factor analysis, 6 common factors(physical activity, medication, stress management, nutrition/joints protection, management of daily activities, and pain management) were extracted, and the cumulative variance contribution rate was 62.28%. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the scale enjoyed good fitness. The content validity index was 0.910 for the overall scale, and 0.805-1.000 for the items. The Cronbach′s α coefficient and test-retest reliability coefficient of Chinese Version RA-SCBS were 0.844 and 0.854. Conclusion The Chinese version of RA-SCBS enjoys good reliability and validity, and can be used as a tool to evaluate self-care behavior in rheumatoid arthritis in China.