Overview of themes identified from African American discourse on quality of care

The article reports on an exploratory descriptive study conducted to establish quality-of-care dimensions from African Americans' perspective, using a combined focus group interview and modified Delphi process. Descriptors of quality, which were identified using participants' vocabulary and thinking patterns, were used to establish quality-of-care dimensions; they were then examined in terms of an adapted quality-of-care framework. Themes and issues related to quality of care also were identified. The article analyzes the qualitative themes abstracted from that discourse and relates focus group interview guide questions to the emerging quality-of-care issues. An interpersonal processes-of-care framework is used to examine the quality-of-care themes, and the quality-of-care issues are discussed using a systems theoretical perspective.