Objective To explore the mediating effect of psychological resilience on the association between disease shame and social distance among infertile patients.

Methods Convenience sampling method was used to recruit 600 infertile women who visited Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from January to August 2023. Questionnaires including content of general information, disease shame scale, psychological resilience scale, and general alienation scale were distributed to them, and 542 valid questionnaires were collected. Disease shame score, social alienation score, and indirect effect of psychological resilience of different characteristics were analyzed.

Results The average total scores of the disease shame scale, psychological resilience scale, and general alienation scale for 542 infertile patients were (75.20 ± 6.83), (45.15 ± 13.19), and (44.43 ± 7.85), respectively. Their disease shame scale and general alienation scale were generally at a medium to high level, while psychological resilience scale was slightly lower than average level. The total score of alienation was positively correlated with that of shame among infertile patients (r = 0.810, P < 0.001), while it was negatively correlated with that of psychological resilience (r = − 0.801, P < 0.001). The total score of disease shame was negatively correlated with that of psychological resilience (r = − 0.600, P < 0.001). Bootstrap test results showed that indirect effect of psychological resilience on the association between shame and social alienation was 0.094 (95% CI: 0.076 − 0.109), while the direct effect of disease shame on social alienation was 0.164 (95% CI: 0.149 − 0.178). The proportion of effect size showed that indirect effect of psychological resilience accounts for 36.58% of total effect.

Conclusion Psychological resilience plays a partial mediating role in the association between disease shame and social alienation among infertile women. Medical staff should actively adopt positive intervention strategies to reduce their level of social alienation from the perspective of psychological resilience, promote better integration into society, and improve their quality of life.