Objectives This study aimed to evaluate one-year effects of a team-level participatory workplace intervention on need for recovery and satisfaction of the needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness among long-term care workers by means of a randomized controlled trial.

Methods Teams of long-term care workers were randomly assigned to the intervention group (ten teams; N=78) or the wait-list control group (ten teams; N=58). The intervention consisted of a problem inventory, related to the needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, a brainstorm towards solutions and an action plan divided over three meetings guided by a facilitator. The primary outcome was need for recovery and secondary outcomes were the satisfaction of the needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness. Outcomes were measured at baseline and after 6, 9 and 12 months. Linear mixed model analyses were performed in R.

Results There was no significant difference in need for recovery between groups over time. The intervention group did show a slight improvement of the satisfaction of the need for relatedness over time, while in contrast, the control group showed a decrease over time. The satisfaction of the need for autonomy and competence did not significantly differ between both groups over time.

Conclusions The approach had no significant effect on the primary outcome need for recovery. The intervention did have a significant positive impact on the satisfaction of the need for relatedness, possibly because, after a period of being unable to be close, it provided opportunity to gather and work together as a team.

Key terms autonomy; basic psychological need; care worker; competence; employability; long-term care worker; need for recovery; participatory approach; participatory workplace intervention; randomized controlled trial; relatedness; self-managing team