Academic dishonesty among health science school students

BACKGROUND: Academic dishonesty has become a serious problem at institutions of higher learning. RESEARCH QUESTION: What is the frequency of academic dishonesty and what factors affect the tendency of dishonesty among Turkish health science school students? RESEARCH DESIGN: This descriptive and cross-sectional study aims to evaluate academic dishonesty among university nursing, midwifery, and dietetic students. Participants and research context: The study sample consisted of 499 health science students in Turkey. The tendency toward academic dishonesty was investigated using the Academic Dishonesty Tendency Scale. Ethical considerations: Institutional review board approved the study. Written permission was obtained from the researcher to use Turkish version of the Academic Dishonesty Tendency Scale. FINDINGS: Of all the students, 80.0% claimed to refer to Internet during homework preparation and 49.1% of students reported to cite the references at the end of article on some instances. Of the students, 56.1% claimed never to have cheated in the exams. It was found that academic dishonesty was partly low (1.80-2.59) in students. For students using a library while doing their homework, mean scores were significantly lower ( p < 0.05). There were also statistically significant difference between mean scores and student's year in school, student's perception of school success, and frequency of Internet use while doing homework ( p < 0.05). DISCUSSION: The tendency of academic dishonesty was lower among students who use Internet and library more frequently. These findings are consistent with previous studies. CONCLUSION: Measurements to take against academic dishonesty should be directed toward not only students but institutions and instructors as well.