tions.
It is, therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study to describe how health is affected by the delivery of care by providers with respect to both style and content of delivery. The study will then identify the variables and issues that impact upon delivery of care. Finally, a discussion of strategies for preventing discriminate care will be offered. The overarching goal of the study is to create a synthesis of what is currently known regarding the various ways in which health care providers understand and respond to critical concerns that negatively impact upon health and well being.
Barriers to Delivery in the Health Care System
The literature presents a wealth of data on the specific barriers to delivery of care that are internal to the health care system itself. Hoeger and Hoeger (3) suggested that even in the United States, a nation recognized as having the most advanced and technologically sophisticated health care system in the industrialized world, the most prominent cases of death are largely lifestyle related. Current statistics indicate that nearly 65 percent of all deaths in the United States are caused by cardiovascular disease and cancer, and that nearly 80 percent of these deaths could be prevented through a combination of a health lifestyle program and better access to or use of medical care. In part, Hoeger and Hoeger (3) also suggest, a failure in the American health care delivery system to recognize the need to treat the mind and the body -- or to delivery care that is essentially holistic rather than body-focused -- may be among the barriers to overall improvements in national health indicators.
This is a position with which Schwartz (4) agrees. Schwartz (4) suggests that mind-body medicine is emerging as a new area of interest to American health care providers. This is because there is a growing appreciation for the relationship between mental or spiritual health and physiological ...