Impact of School-Based Mental Health Programmes on Anxiety Levels Among Adolescents in Cape Town's South African Slums

Adolescents in Cape Town's South African slums are disproportionately affected by mental health issues such as anxiety. A mixed-methods approach including pre- and post-programme surveys, interviews with educators, and focus groups conducted over a year. The programme reduced average anxiety scores by 20% (95% CI: 10%, 30%) in the intervention group compared to baseline data. School-based mental health programmes significantly improve adolescent anxiety levels, warranting broader implementation in similar contexts. Further studies should explore long-term effects and cost-benefit analyses of these interventions. Adolescents, Cape Town, Mental Health Programmes, Anxiety Reduction Treatment effect was estimated with logit (pᵢ) =₀+^ Xᵢ, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.