Effectiveness of the mobile learning HiSense Taxi App for improving taxi drivers’ services for individuals with disabilities: a randomized controlled trial

Purpose: This study examined the effectiveness of the HiSense Taxi App for taxi drivers of individuals with disabilities. The aim was to assess improvements in knowledge about sensitivity and responsiveness, empathy towards clients, and self-efficacy among drivers. Methods: A RCT was conducted with repeated measures. Participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (n = 66) or a waitlist control group (n = 57). The intervention consisted of a 5-minute daily mobile learning session for 30 days. Three separate rmANOVAs with a 2 × 2 design (group: intervention and waitlist; time: pre-test and post-test) were conducted. Results: A significant interaction effect between group and time was found only for knowledge. Post-hoc analyses revealed that the groups did not differ at the pre-test, and the intervention group scored significantly higher than the waitlist group at the post-test. Paired-sample t-tests revealed a significant increase in knowledge for the intervention group and a significant decrease for the waitlist group. No significant interactions were found for empathy or self-efficacy measures. Conclusion: This RCT demonstrated that the HiSense Taxi App is a mobile learning intervention that effectively improves knowledge about sensitivity and responsiveness among taxi drivers of clients with disabilities and the integration into education curricula for taxi drivers would be beneficial.