The Silent Weight of Workplace Loneliness: The Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience in Emotional Exhaustion

emotionally demanding professions such as healthcare. While prior studies have explored its impact on mental health, little is known about its specific effect on emotional exhaustion among health technicians, especially those working in solitary roles like radiology and laboratory technologists. This study aims to examine the mediating role of psychological resilience in the relationship between workplace loneliness and work-related emotional exhaustion. A cross-sectional study was conducted between December 2024 and January 2025 involving 406 radiology and laboratory technologists employed in public and private healthcare institutions in Ankara, Türkiye. Validated scales were used to assess workplace loneliness, emotional exhaustion, and psychological resilience. Data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 24.0 for confirmatory factor analysis. Hayes' PROCESS Macro (Model 4) with 5000 bootstrap resampling was applied to test the mediation model. Workplace loneliness was found to be positively correlated with emotional exhaustion and negatively correlated with psychological resilience. Psychological resilience, in turn, was negatively associated with emotional exhaustion and significantly mediated the relationship between loneliness and exhaustion. Findings highlight that workplace loneliness significantly contributes to emotional exhaustion by undermining psychological resilience. These results underscore the need for workplace interventions that not only reduce feelings of loneliness but also enhance individual coping mechanisms.