Department of Nursing, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Majmaah University, Al-Majmaah, Saudi Arabia.
PhD student in Nursing Science and Public Health, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
J Med Life. 2024 Apr;17(4):418-425. doi: 10.25122/jml-2023-0517.
This cross-sectional study investigated the reasons behind academic cheating in a cohort of nursing students in Saudi Arabia. The study involved 482 nursing students from two government universities in Riyadh. We used a newly developed self-reported questionnaire called the Reasons for Cheating Scale (RCS) to collect data. The highest-scoring reasons for academic cheating in the study population included the desire to obtain high grades, encouragement from friends to cheat, and the perception that exams were too difficult. Male students scored significantly higher than female students for reasons such as not understanding the course material, unclear test questions and instructions, pressure from families to excel, difficulty of the course material, and ignorance of effective study methods ( < 0.05). Age also had a role, as students aged 15-20 years had significantly higher scores for the item "Exams are too hard", whereas those aged ≥25 years had higher scores for "Difficulty of the course material" ( < 0.05). Additionally, students in the preparatory year had significantly higher scores than those in other years for reasons such as difficult exams, unclear test questions and instructions, fear of failing, difficulty of the course material, and the desire to please their families ( < 0.05). Overall, the desire to obtain high grades emerged as the main reason for academic cheating in our cohort of nursing students in Saudi Arabia. The findings suggest that sociodemographic characteristics, including sex, age, and academic year, should be considered when addressing the issue of cheating among nursing students.
本横断面研究调查了沙特阿拉伯两所有政府背景的大学护理专业学生群体中学术作弊的原因。研究涉及 482 名护理专业学生。我们使用了一种新开发的自陈式问卷，称为作弊原因量表（RCS）来收集数据。研究人群中得分最高的学术作弊原因包括渴望获得高分、朋友鼓励作弊以及认为考试太难。与女生相比，男生因不理解课程材料、考试题目和说明不清楚、家庭期望取得优异成绩、课程材料难度大以及对有效学习方法的无知等原因而得分显著更高（<0.05）。年龄也起了作用，15-20 岁的学生在“考试太难”这一项上的得分显著更高，而≥25 岁的学生在“课程材料难度大”这一项上的得分更高（<0.05）。此外，预备年级的学生在考试太难、考试题目和说明不清楚、害怕失败、课程材料难度大以及取悦家人的愿望等原因上的得分显著高于其他年级的学生（<0.05）。总的来说，在我们沙特阿拉伯的护理专业学生群体中，获得高分是学术作弊的主要原因。研究结果表明，在解决护理学生作弊问题时，应考虑社会人口统计学特征，包括性别、年龄和学年。
