RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Identifying resources used by young people to overcome mental distress in three Latin American cities: a qualitative study JF BMJ Open JO BMJ Open FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group SP e060340 DO 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-060340 VO 12 IS 8 A1 Toyama, Mauricio A1 Godoy-Casasbuenas, Natalia A1 Olivar, Natividad A1 Brusco, Luis Ignacio A1 Carbonetti, Fernando A1 Diez-Canseco, Francisco A1 Gómez-Restrepo, Carlos A1 Heritage, Paul A1 Hidalgo-Padilla, Liliana A1 Uribe, Miguel A1 Steffen, Mariana A1 Fung, Catherine A1 Priebe, Stefan YR 2022 UL http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/8/e060340.abstract AB Objective To explore which resources and activities help young people living in deprived urban environments in Latin America to recover from depression and/or anxiety.Design A multimethod, qualitative study with 18 online focus groups and 12 online structured group conversations embedded into arts workshops.Setting This study was conducted in Bogotá (Colombia), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Lima (Peru).Participants Adolescents (15–16 years old) and young adults (20–24 years old) with capacity to provide assent/consent and professionals (older than 18 years of age) that had experience of professionally working with young people were willing to share personal experience within a group, and had capacity to provide consent.Results A total of 185 participants took part in this study: 111 participants (36 adolescents, 35 young adults and 40 professionals) attended the 18 focus groups and 74 young people (29 adolescents and 45 young adults) took part in the 12 arts workshops. Eight categories captured the resources and activities that were reported by young people as helpful to overcome mental distress: (1) personal resources, (2) personal development, (3) spirituality and religion, (4) social resources, (5) social media, (6) community resources, (7) activities (subcategorised into artistic, leisure, sports and outdoor activities) and (8) mental health professionals. Personal and social resources as well as artistic activities and sports were the most common resources identified that help adolescents and young adults to overcome depression and anxiety.Conclusion Despite the different contexts of the three cities, young people appear to use similar resources to overcome mental distress. Policies to improve the mental health of young people in deprived urban settings should address the need of community spaces, where young people can play sports, meet and engage in groups, and support community organisations that can enable and facilitate a range of social activities.Data are available upon reasonable request. The consent forms did not specify that the data would be deposited in a public repository, and for this reason we are unable to deposit the data. The de-identified participant dataset will be made available from the corresponding author (NG-C, natalia.godoy@javeriana.edu.co) upon reasonable request and subject to a data sharing agreement.