Abigail Palmer Molina, PhD, LCSW, IFECMHS, PMH-C
SUB-FIELDS AND AREAS OF RESEARCH
Palmer Molina’s research focuses on promoting infant and early childhood mental health and parent/caregiver resilience, with an emphasis on advancing mental health equity for marginalized, low-income parents of young children. Much of her work centers on developing and implementing cross-system family interventions for multiply stressed mothers, particularly those experiencing depression. The overarching goal of her work is to promote a “whole family” approach to mental health and well-being that co-locates services for both children and parents and views caregivers as deeply deserving of support and investment. Palmer Molina has partnered with children’s mental health services, Head Start, and home visiting programs, both locally and nationally.
Palmer Molina approaches her research as a scholar-practitioner and translational scientist, informing intervention development and implementation from a social justice perspective. She integrates multiple interdisciplinary perspectives in her work and utilizes advanced qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches.
Palmer Molina’s research has been supported by both private and public sources, including the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the Cook County Justice Advisory Council, the Parents as Teachers National Center, and the Harris Foundation. Her work has been published in Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, the Journal of Affective Disorders, and Children and Youth Services Review. She also contributed a chapter to Family Engagement in Mental Health Interventions for Young Children (Springer, 2024).
Palmer Molina is also deeply committed to the on-going development and diversification of the infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH workforce). As part of her work, she helped develop a specialized curricular guide for infant and early childhood mental health in association with the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and has led efforts to bring together social work faculty in the Midwest to address diversity and social justice within IECMH.
GRANT FUNDED RESEARCH
2024-2026
Principal Investigator. “Exploring the Impact of Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Mental Health Promotion Via Virtual Home Visitation.” Examine the effectiveness of virtual services in addressing maternal and early childhood mental health risk within the Parents as Teachers home visiting program. National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program in Clinical Research. $40,000.
2023-2025
Principal Investigator. “Exploring the Impact of Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Mental Health Promotion Via Virtual Home Visitation.” Examine the effectiveness of virtual services in addressing maternal and early childhood mental health risk within the Parents as Teachers home visiting program. Erikson Institute Faculty Innovation Fund. $23,757
2023-2025
Principal Investigator of Evaluation Subcontract. “Erikson Institute Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Certificate (IECMH) Program.” (Prime PI: Sarah Martinez, $783,000 total funds). Assess the impact of an initiative to diversify the IECMH workforce by providing scholarships for historically underrepresented students to complete Erikson’s IECMH Certificate Program. Illinois Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Development and The Irving Harris Foundation. Sub-grant total: $10,000.
2023-2024
Principal Investigator. “Centering our Children: Connecting Services to Families of Children Impacted by Pretrial Incarceration.” Pilot study to identify parents of young children in the Cook County Jail system and assess their needs. Cook County Justice Advisory Council. $68,950
2023
Co-Principal Investigator. “Erikson Center for Children and Families’ School-Based Mental Health Program.” Evaluate a comprehensive school based mental health program for young children at Jose de Diego school in Chicago, IL. Pelino Charitable Foundation. $100,000
2021-2023
Principal Investigator. “Promoting Maternal Mental Health in a Time of Crisis: Examining Depression Screening in the Parents as Teachers Home Visiting Program.” Identify best practices for maternal depression screening and referral to mental health services in the context of COVID19. University of Southern California Center for the Changing Family, Parents as Teachers National Center. $25,302
2020-2021
Principal Investigator. “COVID-19 Impacts on Maternal Mental Health and Economic Well-Being Among Latinx Families.” Explore the pandemic’s impact on maternal mental health, family functioning, and access to safety net resources for Latinx mothers of young children. USC Center for the Changing Family, USC School of Social Work, and the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute. $9,800
2019-2021
Principal Investigator. F31MH119772 “Effectiveness and Implementation of a Maternal Depression Treatment in a Head Start Setting.” Transformative mixed methods study assessing implementation processes and outcomes of a two-generation mental health intervention for ethnic minority Head Start mothers experiencing depression. National Institute of Mental Health. $81,918
2019
Principal Investigator. “Parent as Teachers: Addressing Maternal Risk Factors in a National Home Visiting Program.” Examine whether referral to outside mental health services is associated with parental participation in PAT. University of Southern California Hamovitch Research Center. $7,000
2018-2019
Co-Investigator. “Adults with Child Maltreatment Histories: Positive Outcome Narratives.” Explore factors that facilitated adaptive functioning in adolescence and young adulthood for young adults who experienced child maltreatment. University of Southern California School of Social Work Research Council. $19,525
2018
Principal Investigator. “Maternal Intimate Partner Violence Exposure and Autonomic Reactivity: Associations with Positive Parenting.” Explore relationships between maternal exposure to domestic violence, maternal RSA, maternal psychological health, and parent-child interactions. University of Southern California Hamovitch Research Center. $10,500
FUNDED SPECIAL PROJECTS
2023
Co-Director. “Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Online Professional Development/Convening and Community of Practice.” Aims included 1) developing an online professional development module for the IECMH workforce in Illinois, and 2) convening social work faculty from across the Midwest to promote incorporation of IEMCH into social work degree programs. Illinois Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Development. $160,394
Selected Publications List:
Stuart, S., Schultz, J., Palmer Molina, A., & Siber-Sanderowitz, S. (In press). Interpersonal Therapy: A review of history, theory, and evidence. Psychodynamic Psychiatry.
Palmer Molina, A. (2024). Family engagement in mental health interventions for infants and toddlers. In Nabors, L. & Dym Bartlett, J. (Eds.) Family engagement in mental health interventions for young children. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47917-5
Palmer Molina, A., Palinkas, L., Hernandez, Y.*, Garcia, I.*, Stuart, S., Sosna, T.** & Mennen, F. E. (2023). Implementation of the “Healthy Moms, Healthy Kids” program in Head Start: An application of the RE-AIM QuEST framework centering equity. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 51(1), 69-84. doi:10.1007/s10488-023-01312-8.
Palmer Molina, A., Palinkas, L., Hernandez, Y.*, Garcia, I.*, Stuart, S., Sosna, T.** & Mennen, F. E. (2023). Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy for minoritized Head Start mothers with depressive symptoms: A mixed method study. Journal of Counseling & Development, 102(1), 31-45. doi:10.1002/jcad.12494.
Palmer Molina, A., Ponting, C., Hernandez, Y.*, Traube, D. E., Pham, D.*, Garcia, I.*, & Mennen, F. E. (2023). Pandemic-related stress and resilience among Latinx mothers with a history of depression: Differences by immigration status. Journal of Human Rights and Social Work. doi:10.1007/s41134-023-00249-0.
Hackman, D. A., Suthar, H., Palmer Molina, A., Dawson, W. C., & Putnam-Hornstein, E. (2022). Neighborhood social mobility and early developmental health in a population birth cohort. Health & Place, 74, 102754. doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102754.
Traube, D. E., Palmer Molina, A., Kemner, A.**, & Henk, J. (2022). Perinatal mental health support and early childhood home visitation during COVID-19. Prevention Science, 23(2), 260-270. doi:10.1007/s11121-021-01313-9.
Palmer Molina, A., Skowron, E., Hackman, D. A. (2022). Maternal intimate partner violence exposure and autonomic reactivity: Associations with positive parenting. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(3-4). doi:10.1177/0886260520922514.
Mennen, F. E., Palmer Molina, A., Monro, W., Duan, L., Stuart, S., Sosna, T.** (2021). Effectiveness of an Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) group depression treatment for Head Start mothers: A cluster-randomized controlled trial. Journal of Affective Disorders, 280 (Part B), 39-48. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2020.11.074.
Traube, D. E., Palmer Molina, A., Taylor, A., Kemner, A.**, Shah, L., & Rau, A. (2020). Caregiver experiences of developmental screening. Child: Care, Health, and Development, 47(3). doi:10.1111/cch.12844.
Palmer Molina, A., Traube, D. E., & Kemner, A.** (2020). Addressing maternal mental health to increase participation in home visiting. Children and Youth Services Review, 113, Article 105025. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105025.
Negriff, S., Palmer Molina, A., & Hackman, D. A. (2020). Parental exposure to childhood maltreatment and offspring’s mental health: Investigating pathways through parental adversity and offspring exposure to maltreatment. Child Maltreatment, 25(4). doi:10.1177/1077559520912342.
Palmer Molina, A., Palinkas, L., Monro, W. & Mennen, F. E. (2020). Barriers to implementing a group treatment for maternal depression in Head Start: Comparing staff perspectives. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 47(4), 545-554. doi:10.1007/s10488-020-01012-7.
Palmer Molina, A., Palinkas, L., Monro, W., & Mennen, F. E. (2019). Mothers' perceptions of help-seeking for depression in Head Start: A thematic, discourse analysis by language group. Community Mental Health Journal, 56(3), 478-488. doi:10.1007/s10597-019-00504-7.
Palmer Molina, A., Negriff, S., Monro, W., & Mennen, F. E. (2018). Exploring the relationships between maternal mental health symptoms and young children's functioning in a low-income, minority sample. Journal of Child and Family Studies, (27)12, 3975-3985. doi:10.1007/s10826-018-1225-y.
Abigail “Abby” Palmer Molina is a Neubauer Family Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice.
Before joining the faculty at the University of Chicago, Abigail earned her PhD in Social Work from the University of Southern California and her AM in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Abigail is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has completed two clinical fellowships: the Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) program and an Advanced Clinical Social Work Fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center.
Prior to joining to the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, Abigail was on the faculty at Erikson Institute.