06 052 Chapter 5 Impact of the age awareness workshop Figure 12. AAS items with the most notable changes in perception ‘Even though they do not ask for help, old people should always be offered help’ Pre-workshop 60% 28% 12% Follow-up 28% 63% 9% ‘It is good to speak slowly to old people because it may take them a while to understand things that are said to them’ Pre-workshop 36% 53% 11% Follow-up 11% 80% Agreed Disagreed 9% Neutral In the pre-workshop survey, almost 60% of the respondents at least somewhat agreed that, ‘Even though they do not ask for help, old people should always be offered help’. At follow-up conducted 2–3 months after the workshop, a much smaller proportion of respondents (28%) agreed with this statement. Similarly, more than one in three respondents (36%) in the pre-workshop survey agreed with the statement, ‘It is good to speak slowly to old people because it may take them a while to understand things that are said to them’. At follow-up, only around 11% endorsed this statement. These results showing more substantial reductions in benevolent perceptions of older adults than hostile attitudes, may be reflective of the content of the workshop. The workshop was constructed so that the content, such as learning about the subtle ways ageism is expressed in society and debunking common stereotypes about older adults, revolved more around the implicit and often benevolent forms of ageism, than explicit, more hostile expressions.