Despite decades of research, academic dishonesty remains a significant concern in nursing education. The connection of academic dishonesty to dishonest clinical practice presents a moral imperative for nurse researchers to find new facets of understanding these phenomena. Literature regarding moral disengagement in health care is minimal and is even less prevalent in the context of nursing education. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of moral disengagement on prelicensure nursing students’ tendencies to engage in academic dishonesty in their last or next to last semester of a nursing program. A correlational design via survey method was used. The Moral Disengagement Scale (MDS) and Academic Dishonesty Tendency Scale (ADTS) were reliable in this sample, with alpha coefficients of .90 (N = 251) and .86 (N = 242), respectively. Eighty-seven percent (87.2%, n = 219) of participants reported either agreeing or strongly agreeing with at least one item reflecting moral disengagement. Nearly 75% (74.9%, n = 181) reported agreeing with at least one item reflecting a tendency to engage in academic dishonesty, with an additional 44.6% (n = 108) strongly agreeing. A two-tailed single bivariate correlation revealed a strong, positive, statistically significant relationship between the MDS and ADTS, r (236) = .66, p < .001. The findings suggest that nurse educators must emphasize moral development and the students’ ownership of responsibility academically as well as during the provision of care. Due to the uniqueness of various nursing programs, more research is needed to understand the concept of moral disengagement and its influencing factors, outcomes, and interventions in various nursing student populations and the nursing profession.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-5993 |
| Date | 01 August 2024 |
| Creators | Guimaraes, Sarah |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright by the authors. |
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