Department of Nursing, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Majmaah University, Al Majmaah, Saudi Arabia.
Nursing Science and Public Health, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
Medicine (Baltimore). 2024 Jun 7;103(23):e38243. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000038243.
Cheating behavior is spreading among nursing students worldwide, necessitating the development of a validated questionnaire evaluating the reasons for such behavior. Nursing students (N = 482) from 2 universities in Saudi Arabia participated in this observational study. A survey containing items on socio-demographics and the 33-item Reasons for Cheating Scale (RCS) was completed by the respondents. The RCS had a 1-factor structure; the model fit indices were similar between the 1-, 2-, and 3-factor models, but the inter-factor correlations were too high for the 2- and 3-factor models. The measures of the quality of the factor score estimates were as follows: factor determinacy index, 0.987; expected a posteriori marginal reliability, 0.974; sensitivity ratio, 6.178; and expected percentage of true differences, 97.3%. The measures of the closeness to unidimensionality for the overall RCS were as follows: unidimensional congruence, 0.957; explained common variance, 0.875; and mean item residual absolute loading, 0.223. The intraclass correlation coefficient and McDonald's omega were 0.96 (CI: 0.93-0.98) and 0.962 (95% CI: 0.958-0.967), respectively. The severity score, infit, and outfit ranged from -0.847 to -2.015, 0.813 to 1.742, and 0.837 to 1.661, respectively. For all RCS items, the thresholds ranked τi1 < τi2 < τi3 < τi4 and showed invariance between the sexes. The RCS showed robust psychometric validity for both classical and item response theory parameters. It also had excellent test-retest reliability, internal consistency, item discrimination, factorial validity, measurement invariance, and ordered threshold level for the responses. Therefore, the RCS is a valid and reliable tool for assessing cheating behavior among nursing students.
作弊行为在全球范围内的护理专业学生中蔓延，因此需要开发一种经过验证的问卷来评估这种行为的原因。本研究为观察性研究，纳入了来自沙特阿拉伯 2 所大学的 482 名护理专业学生。通过调查，我们获得了学生的社会人口统计学信息以及对 33 项“作弊原因量表（RCS）”的回答。RCS 具有 1 个因子结构；1 因子、2 因子和 3 因子模型的模型拟合指数相似，但 2 因子和 3 因子模型的因子间相关性过高。因子得分估计质量的度量如下：因子确定性指数，0.987；预期后验边际可靠性，0.974；灵敏度比，6.178；真实差异预期百分比，97.3%。RCS 整体接近单维性的度量如下：单维一致性，0.957；解释共同方差，0.875；平均项目残差绝对负荷，0.223。内部一致性系数和 McDonald 氏 ω 分别为 0.96（95%置信区间：0.93-0.98）和 0.962（95%置信区间：0.958-0.967）。组内相关系数和 McDonald 氏 ω 分别为 0.96（95%置信区间：0.93-0.98）和 0.962（95%置信区间：0.958-0.967）。严重程度评分、infit 和 outfit 分别为-0.847 至-2.015、0.813 至 1.742 和 0.837 至 1.661。对于所有 RCS 项目，得分排序为 τi1<τi2<τi3<τi4，且性别间无差异。RCS 在经典和项目反应理论参数方面均具有稳健的心理测量学效度。它还具有极好的重测信度、内部一致性、项目区分度、因子有效性、测量不变性和反应的有序阈值水平。因此，RCS 是评估护理专业学生作弊行为的一种有效且可靠的工具。
