Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the researcher authored modified adverse childhood experience (MACE) score of practicing social workers is related to their level of compassion satisfaction (CS). Social work participants from Northern California were asked to complete an electronic questionnaire that contained the MACE scale, professional quality of life scale (ProQOL) on CS, and demographic related questions. Data analysis was conducted on the 153 received responses using One-Way ANOVA’s, T-tests, and Pearson’s r to explore correlations between social workers MACE and CS scores. The study findings revealed no statistically significant correlation between MACE and CS. However, statistically significant results were found in the MACE scores between master of social work and licensed clinical social work respondents, and between levels of education. These findings suggest the need for a well-developed and normed scale that could measure adverse childhood experience in today’s research environment. That will provide a more accurate assessment of the relationship between adverse childhood experience and level of compassion satisfaction among social workers.