The development and testing of the Nursing Student Perceptions of Dishonesty Scale

Dishonesty in the classroom suggests dishonesty in practice. There is need to better understand nursing students' perceptions of dishonest behaviors in the classroom and clinical setting. There is currently no instrument to assess perceptions in the classroom and clinical setting.

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to assess nursing students' perceptions of academically dishonest behaviors in the classroom and clinical setting.

Mixed Methods Instrument Development Study.

971 BSN students.

Using the results from a content synthesis of the literature and a small qualitative study, we created the Nursing Student Perceptions of Dishonesty Scale (NSPDS) and examined its psychometric properties.

Factor analysis suggests strong loading of subscales in both settings with two comparable categories allow for correlation of perceptions in the classroom and clinical settings. Cronbach's alpha values begin to establish reliability and PAF with Promax rotation and correlational analysis begin to establish validity.

This NSPDS can help researchers and educators understand more clearly nursing students' perceptions of dishonesty. This will allow for the creation of individualized, and therefore more effective, interventions to reduce dishonest behaviors of nursing students. Further work is needed to strengthen reliability and validity.