Professor Moran earned her doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Iowa and did postgraduate work at Tulane University before joining the Erikson faculty in 2009. She specializes in early childhood mental health.
Her research has focused on the efficacy and outcomes of mental health and social services provided to neglected and abused children. She also studies parenting self-efficacy and is currently developing more sensitive screening tools to measure parents' views of their own competence. These screening instruments can be useful to professionals providing support to parents in a wide range of settings, from home visits to abuse and neglect cases. They also may help illuminate the relationship between depression and parental self-efficacy and provide another clue for spotting postpartum depression.
Moran has studied the effects of maternal depression on infants and toddlers. Because current research suggests that therapies that help a mother may not protect her baby from negative impact depression, she is interested in exploring therapeutic approaches that include and benefit the infant as well as the mother. She also leads a project to refine or
develop new models of psychotherapy adapted to to families' social and cultural context, to reduce barriers to treatment.
Download curriculum vitae » [PDF, 16pg]
Areas of Expertise
Infant and early childhood mental health; psychology; postpartum depression and anxiety; parenting self-efficacy; outcomes of social services for abused and neglected children.
Honors
- Erikson Institute Inspiring Infant Specialist Certificate Graduation speaker, 2011
- 2007 Meir A. Steiner Young Investigator’s Award North American Society for Psychosocial Obstetrics and Gynecology (NASPOG)
- 2002 James F. Jacobson Graduate Student Forum Research Presentation Award
- 2001 James F. Jacobson Graduate Student Forum Research Presentation Award