Academic dishonesty and unprofessional behavior are major concerns for faculty and administrators among all disciplines, but are even more concerning to those in healthcare fields of study, such as nursing. Although not a new problem in academia, students' dishonest behaviors and actions while in programs of study have been shown in previous research to translate into those same behaviors in the workforce after graduation. This descriptive, quantitative study was conducted at a large southeastern school of nursing in Georgia. Students were given a survey with eighteen cheating scenarios and six unprofessional behavior scenarios. Each student had the opportunity to answer whether he or she considered the scenario as depicting cheating/unprofessional behavior, and if so, the degree of seriousness (not at all serious to extremely serious in nature). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), analysis of variance (ANOVA), single-sample t-test, and a correlation analysis were conducted to determine associate degree nursing students' perceptions of academic dishonesty and unprofessional behavior, examining differences between traditional and non-traditional students, gender, and first and second-year students. The findings indicated that 11.23% of associate degree nursing students admitted to cheating during their nursing program. Gender proved to be statistically significant indicating that female associate degree nursing students viewed academic dishonesty and unprofessional scenarios as more serious than males. Although there were no statistically significant findings between traditional/non-traditional students and first and second-year students, the mean responses between the two groups painted a meaningful story.
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