Objective To develop a recurrence risk perception scale for cirrhotic patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding, to provide a basis for healthcare professionals to assess the recurrence risk perception of cirrhotic patients and to construct targeted risk management plans. Methods The Risk Perception Attitude Framework and Health Belief Model were used as the theoretical basis to construct the recurrence risk perception scale for cirrhotic patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding by combining literature search, qualitative interview, Delphi expert inquiry and pre-survey. Reliability test was conducted by investigating 466 cirrhotic patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Results Exploratory factor analysis extracted 3 common factors with a cumulative variance contribution rate of 68.914%. The results of validated factor analysis showed that χ2/df=1.551, RMSEA=0.049, NFI=0.907, IFI=0.965, and CFI=0.965. The content validity index of the scale was 0.902; the total Cronbach′s alpha coefficient of the scale was 0.957. Conclusion The Perceived Risk of Recurrence of Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding in Cirrhotic Patients scale has good reliability and validity, and can be used to assess the perceived risk of recurrence of upper gastrointestinal bleeding in cirrhotic patients.