This research journeys with activists in a statewide healthcare reform movement to understand how these participants transitioned toward increased political activism. The research question is as follows: How do participants in a social justice movement experience their transition toward increased social action? A further research inquiry poses the question: Does the Transtheoretical Model of personal change (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1984) serve as a framework to understand and describe the experience of actors in a social justice movement? The importance of this research for public policy development is that it addresses the dilemma of citizen engagement in the public sphere. Increased citizen participation in the public sphere is fundamental to the development of good public policy. The public policy issue I have chosen to study is citizen engagement in a healthcare reform movement, The Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign. The methodology utilized a phenomenological thematic analysis of interviews with 25 participants in this Campaign to propose a comparative analysis of the themes that emerged and their innovative applicability to the Transtheoretical Model of change.

Major findings indicate that these participants experienced the defining moments of their transition toward increased social action as an interplay of three groupings of themes: themes that facilitated entry into the movement, themes that fostered action within the movement, and themes that contributed to sustained participation within the movement. Among the themes that facilitated entry into the movement are the following: In Praise of the Family, Historical Influences and Prior Activism, and The Campaign Fosters Critical Thinking. Selected themes that fostered action within the movement are as follows: Faith and Spirituality, The Value of Ongoing Relationships Within the Campaign, Righteous Anger, and How the Campaign Changes People. Themes that contributed to sustained participation within the movement include Keeping Hope Alive and Capacity to Stay Committed While Keeping a Protective Distance Against Disappointment. The Transtheoretical Model of change, with modifications, proves to be a viable framework for understanding and describing the experience of how participants transition toward increased social action.