Introduction
Trauma, anxiety, traumatic
SECONDARY
Poor mental health continues to be pervasive in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA; Informal settlements in South Africa are contextually distinct, initially being consequences of the country’s pre-democracy regime’s discriminatory migrant labour and spatial policy, they continue to persist. Previous studies indicate that these settlements face a range of health and social issues, including high crime rates and HIV (The social, economic and physical settings in which people live greatly influence their mental health. Similar to other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) (Economic distress: Poverty and a lack of job prospects are frequent experiences in informal settlements (Crime and violence: Gang activity and other forms of violence are frequently found in high concentrations in urban informal communities (Social isolation: It might be challenging for young males to build social networks and contacts in informal settlements because of their density and lack of social infrastructure (Discrimination: There is a chance that young males in slum areas will be treated unfairly because of their social standing or other characteristics (Limited access to healthcare: Being a common characteristic of informal settlements (Trauma: Being exposed to traumatic experiences like natural disasters, neighborhood violence or conflict can have a long-lasting effect on mental health. Trauma has affected the lives of many young men who live in informal settlements (Given the high levels of poor mental health among young men in urban informal settlements, likely driven by social circumstances, evaluating interventions that may promote positive mental health is critical (The Stepping Stones and Creating Futures intervention combined a gender transformative intervention (Stepping Stones) with a livelihoods intervention (Creating Futures), which sought to reduce perpetration of IPV in young men living in urban informal settlements (Gibbs et al., 2017). Gender transformative interventions aim to change deeply embedded gender norms, roles and expectations rather than merely reinforcing or maintaining them as a means of combating gender inequality and advancing gender equity. Livelihood interventions are economic empowerment tools used to deliver sustainable development by tackling the multifaceted problems of poverty. We conducted a secondary post-hoc analysis of this trial to investigate the intervention’s impact on mental health (i.e. anxiety and PTS).Urban informal settlements are rapidly expanding globally and in South Africa, with over 850 million (