06 053 Chapter 5 Impact of the age awareness workshop Figure 13. AAS item with the highest percentage of neutral responses ‘Most old people interpret innocent remarks or acts as being ageist’ Pre-workshop 15% 68% 17% Follow-up 11% 66% Agreed 22% Disagreed Neutral It is worth noting that while only a small number of respondents (11%) at follow-up agreed that, ‘Most old people interpret innocent remarks or acts as being ageist’, 22% selected ‘neutral’, indicating that more than one in five respondents neither agreed nor disagreed with this sentiment. Compared to the pre-workshop survey, this represents a slight reduction in the proportion of respondents who agreed with this statement (15% to 11%), but also a small increase in those who neither agreed nor disagreed (17% to 22%). Unlike the ERA-12 or FSA, which forced respondents to either agree or disagree with the statements presented, the AAS included ‘neutral’ as a response option. The availability of a neutral option may have provided some respondents with a way to avoid answering a question they found difficult or uncomfortable, or for which they held ambivalent attitudes. (b) Fraboni Scale of Ageism Before the workshop, respondents generally scored relatively low on the FSA, which translates to low levels of antagonistic, discriminatory, and avoidant attitudes towards older adults. Despite the initial low scores, significant further reductions were observed upon completion of the workshop and sustained at follow-up.90 Figure 14 presents the statements that showed the most notable changes between pre-workshop and follow-up surveys.