Cesarean section (CS) is currently used at over twice the rate recommended by the World Health Organization (CDC, 2003), resulting in avoidable morbidity, mortality and health costs related to childbirth. In response to this issue, an NIH expert panel has recommended “increased research devoted to strategies to predict and influence the likelihood of successful vaginal birth” (NIH, 2006, p. 20). Nursing care is one factor known to influence the utilization of CS, although to date there is a marked paucity of research that has shown precisely how or why nurses might act in ways that promote its occurrence. In previous research we conducted we found that intrapartum nurses' conceptions of risk shape their uses of childbirth technologies known to increase the risk of CS. This presentation discusses the development of a research instrument to score intrapartum nurses conceptions of risk related to childbirth. We used an existent tool from the social sciences and modified it to reflect the variables of interest to intrapartum nursing. The research will be used in research aimed at building knowledge about the role of nursing care in over utilization of cesarean section.