Complex trauma and its relation to hope and hopelessness among young people in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Figures & data

Table 1. Interview questions

Topic Guides	Prompts Used
About community context/environment and risk behaviours	Tell me about the community you live in? (Alt: How would you describe the community you live in?) Tell me about substance use in your community? (Alt: How would you describe substance use in the community you live in?) Tell me about teenage pregnancy/young people who engage in risky sexual behaviour in your community? Tell me about the value/importance of young people in your community? (Alt: Do you think young people are valued in your community?) Why, why not?
About hope	Tell me, what do you understand by the term ‘hope’? (Alt: What do you mean when you say you ‘hope’ for something?) How did you learn about hope? (Who told you about hope?) Can you please tell us about an experience where you felt hopeful AND/OR hopeless? In your community, how would you describe young people’s sense of hope? Please elaborate
About happiness	Tell me what it means to be happy? What makes you or young people in your community feel happy? Can you please tell us about an experience where you felt happy AND/OR sad/disappointed? In your community, how would you describe young people’s sense of happiness? Please elaborate.

Table 2. Emerging themes from data

Inductive themes	Deductive themes	Name of codes/nodes	No. of files	Frequency count
Social Support and guidance		Youth support lacking	13	29
		Importance of country development	13	40
		Peer influence	5	7
		Playing sport – supportive environment with playgrounds	14	30
		Role models	9	19
	Academic achievement	Education is important for goals	19	68
		Preparation to achieve goals	3	5
		Reasons for finishing school	2	4
	Importance of youth	Boys are not important	4	8
		Young people are important	13	22
		Young people are not important by the community	1	2
		Low success in youth	2	4
	Gender	Gender difference in planning	5	14
		Gender treatment differences	1	1
	Risky behaviours and cause	Dating for fun	3	5
		Sexual and reproductive health	2	3
		You can’t tell if someone is positive	16	36
		Reasons for school dropouts	7	17
		Happiness from drug use	11	29
		Results of risky behaviours	10	44
		Risky dating behaviours	3	5
Nothing to do – sense of hopelessness
		Proximity of or lack of services	1	1
		Drug abuse among young people	17	51
		Drugs can be helpful	1	3
		Crime rate has diminished	3	3
		Disrespectful youth	9	19
		Happiness from going to bars	12	28
		No employment	7	14
		Limited resources	1	1
Stuck with no way out		Getting married as a goal	5	8
		Desire to migrate	1	2
		Family status	15	37
		Financial independence	1	1
		No trust in police services	4	7
		Unemployment	4	5
		Just preparing for jail – speaking tsotsi	2	3
		High crime rate	2	2
	Hope and Happiness	Beginning of hope	5	8
		Happiness – Temporal	13	42
		Happiness and hope	9	16
		Happiness from neighbourly love and relations	14	39
		Hope	21	96
		Hope and development	3	6
		Hope and education	15	29
		Hope for change	4	4
		Hope is taught	15	19
		Timeline – development of hope	4	5
Loss		Barriers to reaching goals	9	23
		Curse to not progress	1	2
		Family status	1	1
		Independence from parents is important	3	4
Other codes/themes
Explanation of concepts			10	11
Foreigners have HIV and drugs			3	3
Getting and education to buy a car			3	3
Political influence			4	8
Reasons to not get pregnant			3	3
Someone with HIV is not adorable			2	2
SRH education			2	3

Data availability statement

Data cannot be shared publicly because of confidentiality and potential breach as the data contains potentially identifying participant information. Data are available from the AHRI Research Data Management committee (contact via [email protected]) for researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data.