Who is taking care of you? A study of the correlation of academic and professional dishonesty

The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify whether there was a relationship between nursing students' perceptions of the seriousness of acts of academic dishonesty and acts of professional dishonesty as measured by the modified Hilbert Ethical Behaviors Survey. Additionally, this study was to identify whether nursing students over 30 years of age perceived acts of academic dishonesty as more serious than nursing students under the age of 30 years. A correlational design was used with a sample of 46 respondents at an Associate Degree Nursing program in rural Upstate New York. A positive relationship was identified between nursing student's perceptions of the seriousness of acts of academic dishonesty and acts of professional dishonesty. However, no relationship was identified between the nursing student's age and their perception of the seriousness of acts of academic dishonesty. An unexpected significant negative relationship was identified between the perception of acts of professional dishonesty and the year in nursing school. Nursing students in their second year of nursing school identified acts of professional dishonesty as less serious than nursing students in their first year of nursing. Also, a nearly significant relationship between gender and perceptions of seriousness of acts of professional dishonesty was identified. Male nursing students identified acts of professional dishonesty as less serious than female nursing students. Due to these results, it is vital that nurse educators focus on identifying acts of academic dishonesty and acts of professional dishonesty and the consequences of performing those acts.