Health is a broad definition and can be explained in different ways. Regardless of how different individuals perceive health, all clients need a good relationship towards professionals to achieve health. To create and maintain a good professional relationship can be demanding for care assistants, especially when working with adolescents under difficult circumstances.

The aim was to enlighten challenges that care assistants encounter while creating and maintaining a professional relationship with adolescents at transit accommodations.

The study had a qualitative approach and was based on five semi-structured interviews with care assistants at transit accommodations. The interviews were transcribed with the use of qualitative content analysis.

Results showed the importance for care assistants to separate private life while working and to have clear boundaries to create a good professional relationship towards the adolescents. During the interviews all the participants agreed on the importance of theoretical and practical knowledge to accomplish a professional relationship towards the adolescents. Results also showed how various factors such as age, gender and culture can affect the care assistants ability to create and maintain a professional relationship.

The conclusion was that care assistants encounter many challenges while working with adolescents. The care assistants need to build up a good professional relationship towards the adolescents in the transit accommodations for adolescents to feel safe and secure. To be able to do so the care assistants need theoretical knowledge and to have a unified staff group through explicit rules and policies.