Evaluation of Self-Reported professionalism lapses among dental undergraduate students: A cross-sectional study from a Malaysian dental faculty

IntroductionProfessionalism and academic integrity are important components of dental education as they influence not just the present-day learning process, but also the practice of dentistry in future. This study evaluated self-reported professional lapses, academic dishonesty behaviours among peers and recommended sanctions for such lapses. Materials and MethodsDundee Polyprofessionalism Inventory I: Academic Integrity questionnaire was administered to BDS students of a private dental institution in Malaysia. Differences in the level of recommended sanctions were assessed by Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis test. ResultsThere was unanimous agreement that all 34 statements of lapses of academic integrity as unacceptable. The highest agreement (95.6%) was related to threatening or abusing university employees or students and involvement in paedophilic activities, whereas the lowest agreement was observed for getting or giving help for coursework against rules (47.3%). The most frequent behaviours observed among peers were lack of class punctuality (55.1%) and providing and receiving proxy attendance services (49.3%). About 36% admitted to not being punctual themselves, 26.8% for accepting or providing help for course work and 22.9% for receiving and providing proxy attendance. Female students displayed stricter recommended sanctions, with the most significant difference relating to joking disrespectfully about body parts (p < .001). More lenient recommended sanctions were observed among Year 1 students compared with other years, with the most significant difference (p < .001) observed for exchanging information about the exam, forging a signature, plagiarising and cut-pasting materials without acknowledgement. ConclusionThe majority of academic lapses were well comprehended. Significant differences were observed in sanctions imposed in terms of gender and year of study.