The Uses of Stages of Change and Language Within a Forestry Context

Advising landowners can be difficult for foresters. Landowners' motivations towards behavior change should be considered prior to giving advice. The Stages of Change Model, also known as the Transtheoretical Model, assesses whether individuals are ready to perform new behaviors.This model was used to understand how landowner's motivations towards behavior change affect future reforestation efforts, which could help foresters better advise landowners. Landowners from Wisconsin were recruited, reported current behaviors, and separated into either predecisional or postdecisional stages, based on self-reported stage of behavior. They received advice, reported future reforestation intentions, and provided comments. Using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression and language analyses, predecisional stage perceived more barriers towards reforestation efforts and used more negative emotion words, whereas postdecisional stage reported more past habits of reforestation efforts and used more positive emotion words. Foresters should provide advice that reduces barriers for the predecisional stage and build on positive aspects of reforestation for the postdecisional stage. Study Implications: Reforestation is crucial for land management and ecosystem maintenance. Private landowners are encouraged by professional foresters to plant more trees for reforestation. However, landowners vary in reforestation efforts, and foresters must understand individual differences when advising. Results show that it is important to separate landowners into groups, using the Stages of Change Model, to determine previous behaviors affecting future reforestation and understand how language-use provides insights into what stage they are in and perceived barriers. Foresters should provide advice that reduces barriers for those with less reforestation experience and build on positive aspects of reforestation for those with more experience. These recommendations can empower more effective outreach.