Background. To give birth can be a stressful experience and women cope with this stress in many different ways and have different personal outcomes. Self-efficacy or confidence in ability to cope with labour can be considered as an important factor affecting pregnant women’s motivation of normal childbirth and their interpretation of the childbirth event. The aim. The purpose of this study was to test the Chinese short form of the instrument Childbirth self-efficacy instrument (CBSEI) in Tanzania, that measure pregnant women’s self-confidence and coping abilities during childbirth. Method. The Chinese short form of the CBSEI was used to pilot test the pregnant women’s confidence of childbirth to see if the questions were understood in the Tanzanian culture. Besides this instrument socio-demographic data was collected together with two open questions asking about attitudes and experiences of childbirth. The instrument was translated into Kiswahili. A sample of 60 pregnant women who were visiting antenatal clinic (ANC) regularly were asked to participate and with help from midwifes at two ANC places the questionnaires were filled out. Result. The result shows that the validity and reliability of the two subscales OE-16 and EE-16 were established. The internal consistency reliability of the two subscales were high, suggesting that each of the subscale mean score provides a good overview of self- reported belief in coping ability for childbirth. The results further show that the instrument, CBSEI in this pilot study is not able to identify women who need extra support during childbirth. Conclusion. The reliability and validity of information presented in this pilot study support the use of the Chinese short form of the CBSEI as a research instrument in the Tanzania culture. Further studies are recommended to get a wider understanding about women’s coping abilities in a culture like Tanzania.