{Reference Type}: Journal Article
{Title}: Development and validation of a questionnaire about reasons for academic cheating by nursing students: A cross-sectional study.
{Author}: Alotaibi JS;Alotaibi AO;Manzar MD;Almansour AM;Alasiry S;Alrasheadi BA;Alanazy W;Albougami A;Kashoo FZ;
{Journal}: Medicine (Baltimore)
{Volume}: 103
{Issue}: 23
{Year}: 2024 Jun 7
{Factor}: 1.817
{DOI}: 10.1097/MD.0000000000038243
{Abstract}: Cheating behavior is spreading among nursing students worldwide, necessitating the development of a validated questionnaire evaluating the reasons for such behavior. Nursing students (N = 482) from 2 universities in Saudi Arabia participated in this observational study. A survey containing items on socio-demographics and the 33-item Reasons for Cheating Scale (RCS) was completed by the respondents. The RCS had a 1-factor structure; the model fit indices were similar between the 1-, 2-, and 3-factor models, but the inter-factor correlations were too high for the 2- and 3-factor models. The measures of the quality of the factor score estimates were as follows: factor determinacy index, 0.987; expected a posteriori marginal reliability, 0.974; sensitivity ratio, 6.178; and expected percentage of true differences, 97.3%. The measures of the closeness to unidimensionality for the overall RCS were as follows: unidimensional congruence, 0.957; explained common variance, 0.875; and mean item residual absolute loading, 0.223. The intraclass correlation coefficient and McDonald's omega were 0.96 (CI: 0.93-0.98) and 0.962 (95% CI: 0.958-0.967), respectively. The severity score, infit, and outfit ranged from -0.847 to -2.015, 0.813 to 1.742, and 0.837 to 1.661, respectively. For all RCS items, the thresholds ranked τi1 < τi2 < τi3 < τi4 and showed invariance between the sexes. The RCS showed robust psychometric validity for both classical and item response theory parameters. It also had excellent test-retest reliability, internal consistency, item discrimination, factorial validity, measurement invariance, and ordered threshold level for the responses. Therefore, the RCS is a valid and reliable tool for assessing cheating behavior among nursing students.