048 Chapter 5 Impact of the age awareness workshop I’ve worked with older people for a very long time … My whole career has been based on working with and caring for older people. As I’ve also aged and matured myself and become closer [in age] to the group that I care for and work with, my perspectives on ageing have certainly changed over time … both with my work experience and also with my personal life experience. —Participant, mixed age group The perceptions of some participants working in aged care had been influenced by the nature of their work, which tended to limit their interactions with older adults to those who are experiencing physical and cognitive impairments. I have 140 clients. 5 days a week, 40 hours a week I’m working in aged care … so I think probably at the moment [my views] are coloured by the demographics that I’m working with and that is how I see getting older. —Participant, age 61+ When you work within the nursing space you see the unhealthy side of ageing or more of the bad things that people go through, and you don’t see so much of the good stories ... I’ve probably got some negative attitudes about ageing not for any other reason than I see so much of the downsides of it, not the positives. —Participant, mixed age group Other participants acknowledged their work exposed them to a subsection of the older population who are experiencing more physical and cognitive challenges, but stated this did not significantly alter their perceptions and expectations of ageing. On one hand [working with dementia patients] skews me to not see the whole population out there that’s ageing, I see maybe a section [who have dementia] and because my own mum had dementia and so that was obviously an influence too … but … I don’t particularly worry about getting dementia or being in that situation. I feel like if it happens, hopefully I’ll manage it somehow. You certainly know about all the things that can go wrong as you age, but because I’m in this environment and I work in a hospital, I work with geriatricians, you also learn about the sorts of things that might counter some of those issues. Perhaps you get the balance that way … I don’t think I fear getting older. —Participant, age 61+ I don’t think working in aged care has necessarily changed my thoughts around ageing and older people. —Participant, age 52–60 For others, their work or volunteer role in aged care and community settings enabled them to recognise and dismantle the biases and stereotypical ideas they had of older adults. These participants spoke about getting to know their clients as individuals beyond the stereotypes, which in turn, changed their views of older adults and ageing. [Working in aged care] You do sort of have those preconceived ideas, but once you realise how amazing these people are and that they shouldn’t be written off and they shouldn’t be stereotyped, it evolves really quickly. —Participant, age 40–51 I would have to say I’m guilty of a lack of knowledge prior to having worked in this role with seniors. I would even put myself down as arrogant … I don’t like the person I used to be with my attitudes towards seniors … My outlook has completely changed. —Participant, mixed age group