Medical students' attitudes and behaviours regarding academic misconduct

Abstract

Objectives: To determine attitude and self reported behavior in medical students to scenarios involving academic misconduct and the association between medical students’ attitudes and reported behaviors involving academic misconduct and gender, academic years, cumulative grade point average (GPAX), and campus. Methods: In academic year 2008, a cross-sectional study using an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire was conducted in Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University. All medical students were recruited. Completed questionnaire were collected and analyzed. Results: Of the 1217 medical students (81.5%) who completed the questionnaire, the majority of medical students felt that most behaviors in the scenarios were wrong and admitted engaging is such behaviors. Six hundred sixty three (55.0%) students responded that they should inform faculty of another students’ academic misconduct, but only 126 (10.4%) students stated that they had or would consider reporting it. Being male was the only factor that was associated with poorer attitudes. For behavior, all factors were associated with misconduct behavior. After multivariate analysis, gender (male > others) were the three factors that revealed significant links to misconduct behavior. Conclusion: The majority of medical students considered academic misconduct to be wrong and would not engage in it. However, many of them admitted engaging in such behaviors. There was an association between gender and students’ attitudes, while their behaviors were associated with gender, academic year, and campus.