Self-reported attitudes and behaviours of medical students in Pakistan regarding academic misconduct: a cross-sectional study

BMC Medical Ethics

Sheikh Abdul Saeed⁵  Iqbal Syed Azam⁴  Hamna Asim³  Ghulam Rehmani Lakho²  Kulsoom Ghias¹ 

[1] Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University, Stadium Road, P. O. Box 3500, Karachi 74800, Pakistan;Department of Physiology, Rehman Medical College, Rehman Medical Institute, 4/A-3, Phase V, Hayatabad, Peshawar, Pakistan;Medical College, Aga Khan University, Stadium Road, P. O. Box 3500, Karachi, Pakistan;Department of Community Health Sciences, Aga Khan University, Stadium Road, P. O. Box 3500, Karachi, Pakistan;College of Medicine, Mail code 6556, National Guards Health Affairs, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21423, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

关键词: Medical students;    Academic integrity;    Academic misconduct;    Stealing;    Cheating;    Lying;   

Others  :  799511
DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6939-15-43

 received in 2013-03-25, accepted in 2014-05-21,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Honesty and integrity are key attributes of an ethically competent physician. However, academic misconduct, which includes but is not limited to plagiarism, cheating, and falsifying documentation, is common in medical colleges across the world. The purpose of this study is to describe differences in the self-reported attitudes and behaviours of medical students regarding academic misconduct depending on gender, year of study and type of medical institution in Pakistan.

Methods

A cross sectional study was conducted with medical students from one private and one public sector medical college. A pre-coded questionnaire about attitudes and behaviours regarding plagiarism, lying, cheating and falsifying documentation was completed anonymously by the students.

Results

A total of 465 medical students filled the questionnaire. 53% of private medical college students reported that they recognize copying an assignment verbatim and listing sources as references as wrong compared to 35% of public medical college students. 26% of private medical college students self-report this behaviour as compared to 42% of public medical college students. 22% of private versus 15% of public medical college students and 21% of students in clinical years compared to 17% in basic science years admit to submitting a fake medical certificate to justify an absence. 87% of students at a private medical college believe that cheating in an examination is wrong as compared to 66% of public medical college students and 24% self-report this behaviour in the former group as compared to 41% in the latter. 63% of clinical year students identify cheating as wrong compared to 89% of their junior colleagues. 71% of male versus 84% of female respondents believe that cheating is wrong and 42% of males compared to 23% of females admit to cheating.

Conclusions

There are significant differences in medical students’ attitudes and behaviours towards plagiarism, lying, cheating and stealing by gender, seniority status and type of institution. The ability to identify acts of academic misconduct does not deter students from engaging in the behaviour themselves, as evidenced by self-reporting.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Ghias et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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