Unmasking the Understanding of Academic Dishonesty Among Undergraduate Medical Students: "Is That Cheating?"
| Autor: | Gugapriya TS; Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Nagpur, Nagpur, IND., Vinay Kumar N; Anatomy, Government Medical College, Palakkad, Palakkad, IND., Karunakaran I; Anatomy, Karpagam Faculty of Medical Sciences and Research, Coimbatore, IND. |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Zdroj: | Cureus [Cureus] 2024 Jun 18; Vol. 16 (6), pp. e62609. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jun 18 (Print Publication: 2024). |
| DOI: | 10.7759/cureus.62609 |
| Abstrakt: | Introduction Academic dishonesty threatens the environs of medical education, wherein medical graduates are expected to exhibit professional honesty. Despite the efforts of institutions and governing bodies, the implementation of an environment of academic integrity is a challenge. We hypothesized that what medical students perceive as academic dishonesty might be different from the prevalent understanding of academic dishonesty among the teaching fraternity. This exploratory study was done to identify and explore in depth what constitutes cheating in the eyes of a medical student. Methods This qualitative study was planned as a semi-structured interview among undergraduate medical students in the second year of study (n=25). The dimensions studied were the individual perceptions of what constitutes cheating, self-reported responses with underlying reasoning to hypothetical academic cheating scenarios, and responses on instances of self-experienced or self-observed instances of academic dishonesty. Results The responses indicate the ambiguous interpretation of academic honesty by students and four chief themes of the interpretation of dishonesty, based on student understanding. Our results identify core areas, such as the need for a clear and unambiguous institutional academic integrity policy, an environment of academic honesty, and strict enforcement of penalties for breach of ethical conduct, that need to be addressed to tackle the menace of academic dishonesty. Conclusion Themes derived from our study describe student factors, including trivialization of academic integrity, that lead to academic dishonesty. Advocacy for academic honesty in educational institutions must address these factors to enforce institutional standards. Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Chennai Medical College Hospital and Research Centre Institutional Ethical Committee issued approval CMCH&RC/IEC-149/26.11.2015. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work. (Copyright © 2024, Gugapriya et al.) |
| Databáze: | MEDLINE |
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