ArticleJournal of nursing management2026
Toxic Leadership in Hospital Nursing and Its Psychological Impact on Staff Well-Being: A Scoping Review.
Article in Journal of nursing management, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Toxic Leadership in Hospital Nursing and Its Psychological Impact on Staff Well-Being: A Scoping Review.Journal of nursing management · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimThis scoping review examines the psychological impacts on staff resulting from toxic leadership in healthcare, specifically in hospital nursing, and offers recommendations to mitigate and manage this dark side of leadership.
backgroundToxic leadership can have serious psychological effects on hospital staff, negatively impacting their health. Beyond individual well-being, it can also undermine hospitals' efforts to increase risks to patient safety and ultimately contribute to poorer patient outcomes.
methodFollowing PRISMA guidelines, a systematic search for both quantitative and qualitative evidence across four databases yielded 10 quantitative research articles, examining the experiences of 4850 healthcare professionals (3499 hospital nurses identified across 9 articles) worldwide with toxic leadership.
resultsFive key themes were identified. Themes underlined that toxic leadership has a profoundly negative impact on nurses' psychological well-being and emotional functioning, with a final theme identifying strategies for mitigating its effects.
conclusionThe findings confirm that psychological impacts for nurses encountering toxic leadership include anxiety, burnout, depression, emotional exhaustion, low motivation, malaise, negative affectivity, stress and withdrawal. Adopting the transformational leadership style in healthcare should be the gold standard, coupled with 360-degree appraisals. Future qualitative research is required to provide a more in-depth understanding of the psychological impacts of toxic leadership. Its associated costs can be substantial and warrant further exploration. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Strengthening nurses' awareness of toxic leadership, how to manage or escalate toxic leadership styles, and understanding its psychological impacts are essential tools for nursing management. Ensuring a supportive culture for reporting and recovery for those impacted by toxic leadership is vital, ultimately improving healthcare delivery, staff well-being and hospital performance.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.