Dr. McColl is a Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy (Occupational Therapy) and in the Department of Public Health Sciences. She also serves as Academic Lead for the Canadian Disability Policy Alliance — a national collaboration of academic, community and policy partners committed to understanding and enhancing disability policy in Canada. She joined the [former] Centre for Health Services & Policy Research in 2001 as Associate Director, and also served two terms as Acting Director. Dr. McColl has written 14 books on disability, occupational therapy and spirituality. She is one of the authors of the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM).
Dr. McColl completed a BSc in occupational therapy at Queen’s University in 1978, MHSc and PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Toronto in 1983 and 1991, and a Masters in Theological Studies at Queen’s in 2007, as well as basic hospital chaplaincy training. She was an Assistant Professor at University of Toronto in Occupational Therapy, and Director of Research at Lyndhurst Spinal Cord Centre from 1983-1992, when she moved to Queen’s University, and served two terms as Head of Occupational Therapy.
Research Interests
Disability policy; access to health services for people with disabilities; primary care for spinal cord injury; spirituality & disability.
Research in Progress
Changing implicit attitudes toward disability; intergenerational transfers of values nd meaning; improving mobility, access and participation among people with disabilities; accessing community help for immigrants; enhancing community participation in Canadians with physical disabilities; coverage for essential medicines; and inquiry into teachers' perception of disability.
Research Network/Group Involvement
Canadian Disability Policy Alliance; Canadian Disability Participation Partnership; Federal Accessibility Legislation Alliance; COPM Inc.; Mobility Access Participation Partnership; Compassionate Communities Kingston