The effects of AI-based research ethics education program on academic ethical awareness, attitudes toward plagiarism,...

Ethical awareness among nursing students is associated with attitudes toward medical errors in clinical practice. With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, there is a growing need to develop and evaluate innovative research ethics education programs that integrate advanced technologies to foster appropriate ethical awareness.

This study aimed to examine the effects of AI-based research ethics education on nursing students' academic ethics awareness, attitudes toward plagiarism, and knowledge of research ethics.

A quasi-experimental study using a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was conducted.

A total of 77 participants were recruited and assigned to either the experimental group (n = 41) or the control group (n = 36).

The experimental group participated in an AI-based intervention program for 2 h per week over 5 weeks. Participants in the experimental group were divided into five teams, with 7-9 students per team. The control group received conventional nursing research classes. Both groups completed questionnaires measuring academic ethics awareness, attitudes toward plagiarism, and knowledge of research ethics before and after the intervention.

The intervention did not produce a statistically significant between-group difference in academic ethics awareness (AEA) (t = -0.711, p = .479). Regarding attitudes toward plagiarism, significant between-group differences were found in negative attitudes (t = 2.897, p = .005) and subjective norms (t = -2.991, p = .004). In addition, knowledge of research ethics showed a significant between-group difference (t = 3.927, p < .001).

The findings demonstrate that AI-based research ethics education is an effective educational approach for improving nursing students' attitudes toward plagiarism and knowledge of research ethics. These results highlight the potential of AI-based education as an innovative ethics education strategy and provide empirical evidence to support the selection of teaching methods aimed at strengthening ethical competencies in nursing education.