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People with intellectual disability are reported to encounter many negative life events during their increasingly long lives. In the absence of protective elements, these may cause toxic stress and trauma. Given the reported negative effects of such adverse events on their quality of life (QoL), the perspective of older people with intellectual disability themselves may be of relevance. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The authors questioned nine participants with mild intellectual disability, aged 61–88 years old, in four 90-min focus group sessions and thematically analysed the data.

Many recent and bygone negative life events still weighed heavily on the participants. Negative interactions, experiences of loss, lack of control and awareness of one’s disability caused stress. Their emotional response contrasted with their contentment, compliance and resilience. Having (had) good relationships, having learnt coping skills, remaining active, talking about past experiences and feeling free of pain, safe, well supported, capable, respected and involved seemed to heighten resilience and protect participants from toxic stress.

Monitoring and preventing adverse (childhood) experiences, supporting active/emotional coping strategies, psychotherapy and life story work may facilitate coping with negative events and enhance QoL of elderly people with intellectual disability.

Elderly people with mild intellectual disability run a higher risk of experiencing (early) adverse events in life. They are very capable of talking about their experiences, QoL, and the support they need. Focus groups were a reliable method to capture their insights.

The purpose of this paper is to report on a qualitative case study that examined the potential benefits, challenges and implications of the mentor–coach (MC) role as a supportive structure for experienced teachers’ well-being and sense of flourishing in schools.

The qualitative case study used data collected from surveys, interviews, focus groups and documentation. Data were coded and abductively analyzed using the “framework approach” with and against Seligman’s well-being PERMA framework. In order to include an alternative stakeholder perspective, data from a focus group with the district’s teacher union executive are also included.

Using the constituting elements of Seligman’s well-being (PERMA) framework, experienced teachers reported positive emotion, engagement, positive relationships, meaning and accomplishment from their MC experience. However, the MC role is not a panacea for educator well-being. Rather, the quality and effectiveness of the mentoring and coaching relationship is a determining factor and, if left unattended, negative experiences could contribute to their stress and increased workload.

The data used in this study were based on a limited number of survey respondents (25/42) and the self-selection of the interview (n=7) and focus group participants (n=6). The research findings may lack generalizability and be positively skewed.

This study contributes to the current lack of empirical research on the MC experience and considers some of the wider contextual factors that impact effective mentoring and coaching programs for educators.

Across the globe, every organization is striving to enhance the productivity and growth rate, but the prosperity and success of an organization is determined by the type of work environment in which it operates. To address this apprehension, this paper aims to determine the effect of toxic workplace environment on job stress that can badly affect the job productivity of an employee.

As an independent variable, toxic workplace environment was used as a complete spectrum consisting multiple dimensions named as workplace ostracism, workplace incivility, workplace harassment and workplace bullying. Job stress was used as a mediating variable between the spectrum of toxic workplace environment and job productivity. In this regard, self-administered close-ended questionnaire was used to collect the data from 267 employees of the health sector (HS) of Lahore region in Pakistan. For analysis purpose, we used confirmatory factor analysis to ensure the convergent and discriminant validity of the factors. AMOS 22 was used to check the direct and indirect effect of selected variables. Hayes mediation approach was used to check the mediating role of job stress between four dimensions of toxic workplace environment and job productivity.

The output demonstrated that the dimensions of toxic workplace environment have a negative significant relationship with job productivity, while job stress was proved as a statistical significant mediator between dimensions of toxic workplace environment and job productivity. Finally, we conclude that organizations need to combat/cleanse the roots of toxic workplace environment to ensure their prosperity and success.

This study aims to determine the effect of toxic workplace environment on job stress that can badly affect the job productivity of an employee. An empirical study in the context of the HS of Pakistan. This study, which is based on HS, has never been reported before in literature.

Drawing on the scientific literature, the purpose of this paper is to elucidate the harmful effects of toxic stress on the developing brain. It explains how severe, chronic adversity during development, in the absence of responsive caregiving, can impair brain architecture. It also outlines policy implications for preventing or mitigating the effects of toxic stress in early childhood.

The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, based at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, is a multidisciplinary, multiuniversity panel of scholars that seeks to bring science to bear on public decision making. Council members selected excessive stress as a topic meriting translation for a general audience and conducted extensive peer review in drafting the paper's key scientific concepts.

The paper discusses how healthy development can be derailed by excessive or prolonged activation of the biological stress response systems and how that increases lifetime risk for certain behavioural and physiological disorders. It finds that supportive relationships with caregivers can help buffer the negative consequences of toxic stress.

The paper calls for improvements to family support programmes, mental health services, and the quality and availability of early care and education.

This paper describes an original taxonomy of positive, tolerable, and toxic stress and demonstrates the need to translate scientific knowledge about the developing brain into actionable strategies for the prevention and treatment of the effects of adverse childhood experiences.

The study examined the relationship between workplace toxicity and turnover intentions among Indian healthcare employees. It also explored the role of gratitude as a moderator in the workplace toxicity–turnover intentions relationship.

The study is based on a cross-sectional research design. The sample comprises 315 employees from the Indian healthcare sector. Approximately, 400 employees are approached both through email and office visits. Responses were received from 336 participants, and 21 incomplete questionnaires were discarded. The relationships between four variables of workplace toxicity and turnover intentions are examined using correlation and hierarchical regression. The moderation effect of gratitude is studied using the PROCESS macro in SPSS 21.

The results revealed that workplace toxicity could explain 45.8% variations in employees' turnover intentions. It also reported significant negative regression coefficients between all four dimensions of workplace toxicity and turnover intentions. It suggested that toxic health organizations may promote turnover intentions among healthcare employees. Also, findings recommended a significant moderating effect of gratitude amid the relationships of four dimensions of workplace toxicity and turnover intentions.

Hospital administrators must ensure that health professionals have the necessary support to remain effective in the field by providing a conducive working environment emerging from sound human resource practices that promote respect, collegial relationships, teamwork and collaboration. The present research demonstrates gratitude as one such factor that could act as a catalyst within the workplace. Practitioners could achieve a healthy work environment by developing complementary relief measures that build organizational capacities and improve its culture while sponsoring programs for individual employees that instill positivity through awareness of gratitude in everyday life.

This study offered a comprehensive understanding of workplace toxicity by investigating its four dimensions. Also, it is one of the pioneer studies that evaluate the role of gratitude in restricting workplace toxicity-induced turnover intentions.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a relationship between pay satisfaction and leader–member relationship and examine pay satisfaction as a moderator of the relationship between toxic leadership and LMX among public sector nurses in Ghana.

Using a cross-sectional survey approach, the authors used questionnaires to collect data from 225 nurses working in public hospitals in Ghana. The hypotheses were tested using covariance-based structural equation modelling.

The results of this study revealed that pay satisfaction levels of nurses had an influence on leader–member exchange (LMX). The results further showed that pay satisfaction as a moderator of the relationship between toxic leadership and LMX was not statistically significant.

Cross-sectional surveys are often criticised for causality issue. The causality issue here is that the link between toxic leadership, pay satisfaction and LMX was explored at a given point in time and ignores changes through time.

Hospitals must encourage their leaders to demonstrate more supportive and positive behaviours to foster positive leader–member relationships. Maladjusted, malcontent and malevolent leadership behaviours are dangerous for nurses and hospitals and can be addressed through leadership training and development.

Toxic leadership has considerable organisational costs of low productivity and negative work relationship at the workplace. The indirect effects of toxic leadership at the workplace on employees’ families and friends are often silent in organisations.

Nurses have been ignored in toxic leadership research in emerging economies. LMX is extended to examine toxic leadership and pay satisfaction in public hospitals in an emerging economy.

This study aims to appraise and synthesize evidence examining the effects of toxic leadership on the nursing workforce and patient safety outcomes.

This is a systematic review in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol. Five electronic databases (SCOPUS, PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL and Psych INFO) were searched to identify relevant articles. Two independent researchers conducted the data extraction and appraisal. A content analysis was used to identify toxic leadership outcomes.

The initial literature search identified 376 articles, 16 of which were deemed relevant to the final review. Results of the content analysis identified 31 outcomes, which were clustered into five themes: satisfaction with work; relationship with organization; psychological state and well-being; productivity and performance; and patient safety outcomes. Seven mediators between toxic leadership and five outcomes were identified in the included studies.

Organizational strategies to improve outcomes in the nursing workforce should involve measures to build and develop positive leadership and prevent toxic behaviors among nurse managers through theory-driven strategies, human resource management efforts and relevant policy.

The review findings have provided modest evidence suggesting that working under a leader who exhibits toxic behaviors may have adverse consequences in the nursing workforce; however, more research examining if this leadership style influences patient safety and care outcomes is warranted.

The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the distressing impact of toxic leadership on the mental state of the subordinates and examine the unique coping mechanisms used by them to deal with such leaders. The paper also examined the relationship between psychological distress and coping strategy used by subordinates to deal with the toxic leader.

This study presents a validity testing of two scales. The first scale was designed to measure experienced psychological distress emanating from exposure to toxic leaders, and the second scale aims to assess the coping strategies utilized by subordinates to deal with the toxic leaders. Data were collected from 570 employees working in public as well as private organizations in India.

The results of this paper supported the theorized two three-dimensional tools to measure: psychological distress (loss of self-worth, withdrawal and agitated) and coping strategies to deal with toxic leaders (assertive coping, avoidance coping and adaptive coping). Reliability estimates and construct validity of both the tools were established. The results also suggest that the loss of self-worth was negatively related with assertive coping, avoidance coping and adaptive coping. However, withdrawal was positively related with assertive coping and avoidance coping. Finally, agitation was positively related with avoidance and adaptive coping.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the rare studies to examine together the phenomenon of both psychological distress experienced by subordinates and the coping strategies utilized by them to deal with toxic leaders.

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the lived experience of toxic leadership for a cohort of 11 individuals who work, or have worked, in the field of higher education in Ireland. Drawing on national and international literature, as well as the testimonies of a cohort of academic and administrative staff, the study considers the impact of this negative management style on these individuals as well as upon the organisation itself.

A total of 11 self-selected individuals (four males and seven females) were interviewed for this pilot study. Data from the semi-structured interviews were organised thematically and analysed with the support of the computer software package MAXQDA®.

The results show that the experience of toxic leadership was profound for the interviewees across a number of contexts. They reported adverse physical and psychological impacts as well as detailing the repercussions for their respective career trajectories as they endeavoured to safely navigate their often-hostile work environment. Human resources departments within their respective institutions were the focus of considerable criticism by the interviewees who highlighted, what they saw as, the inherent contradiction/tension between the perceived roles and responsibilities of such departments in addressing or resolving interpersonal work-related disputes.

The findings expand on the extant scholarly literature on toxic leadership in higher education and, for the first time, offer a revealing insight on this phenomenon within the Irish context.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how doctoral students experienced mentorship in their supervision context and how the mentorship they received impacted their well-being.

An interpretive phenomenological methodology was selected to frame the research design. This research approach seeks to study the individual lived experience by exploring, describing and analyzing its meaning.

The findings revealed three different quality levels of mentorship in this context authentic mentorship, average mentorship and below average/toxic mentorship. Doctoral students who enjoyed authentic mentorship experiences were more motivated and satisfied, students who reported average mentorships needed more attention and time from their supervisors, and students who had below average/toxic mentorships were stressed out and depleted.

A limitation of this study is the lack of generalizability owing to the small sample size typical in qualitative studies. Another limitation is that this research did not include students who quit their programs because of dysfunctional supervision experiences.

Students and supervisors can use the findings to reflect on their beliefs and practices to evaluate and improve their performances. Also, authentic mentors can benefit from the findings to create a positive culture for all students to receive support. Finally, current supervisory policies can be reviewed in light of this paper’s findings.

The findings show the nature of mentorship in an authoritative context, and how it can be toxic when power is misused.

This study provides new knowledge in relation to the different types of mentorship experiences that exist in doctoral supervision, and how each type can influence students’ well-being differently. Additionally, it reveals that doctoral students can graduate, even in the face of toxic mentorship, but at the expense of their well-being.