WASHINGTON, March 14,
2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Human Animal Bond Research
Institute (HABRI) and Pet Partners today announced the publication
of an important study showing significant reductions in child and
parental anxiety and the reduced need for anxiety medication
resulting from therapy dog visits in the emergency department. This
study, published in JAMA Network was led by
Jeffrey A. Kline, MD, Associate
Chair of Research at the Department of Emergency Medicine at
Wayne State University School of
Medicine.
"Virtually all children experience some degree of psychological
stress as patients in the emergency department, and about 15%
suffer such stress that they require an intervention to allow care
processes to continue," said Dr. Kline, the study's principal
investigator. "We found that implementation of therapy dog visits
has the potential to reduce fear and anxiety in children and their
parents and improve their overall emergency department experience,
which has the potential to improve outcomes in a low-cost, low-risk
way."
Eighty patients aged 5-17 years were enrolled in the study. All
received standard child-life therapy, and the intervention group
(n=40) was randomly assigned to have exposure to a therapy
dog-handler team for approximately ten minutes. Anxiety was
measured using the FACES scale and salivary cortisol
concentrations. Measurements were obtained at baseline, 45 minutes
post-intervention and 120 minutes post-intervention. Results of the
study provide novel evidence that animal-assisted therapy (AAT),
adjunctive to child-life therapy (usual care), can reduce both
patient and parental perception of anxiety in the emergency
department. Forty-six percent of children in the therapy dog group
saw a decrease in anxiety scores in comparison to 23% in the
control group. In addition, 55% of children in the control group
received ketamine, midazolam or droperidol. In comparison, just 35%
of in the therapy dog (intervention) group children received these
drugs, representing a clinically significant reduction in
medications commonly used for behavioral control or to treat severe
anxiety.
"Therapy animal-handler teams are deployed in hospitals across
the country to provide comfort to patients across all age ranges,"
said C. Annie Peters, President of
Pet Partners. "These new findings go one step further in
documenting how therapy animals improve medical outcomes."
"This high-quality research provides clinically relevant data
for medical professionals, elevating the role of the human-animal
bond as a complementary therapy in the practice of medicine," said
Steven Feldman, president of
HABRI.
Citation: Kelker HP, Siddiqui HK, Beck
AM, Kline JA. Therapy Dogs for Anxiety in Children in the
Emergency Department: A Randomized Clinical
Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(3):e250636.
doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.0636
About Pet Partners
Pet Partners is the leader in the
therapy animal field for registering volunteer teams. Since 1977,
we have supported tens of thousands of teams in making millions of
meaningful visits across the country and around the world. Through
the human-animal bond, we can improve the physical, social, and
emotional lives of both the people and animals involved. Pet
Partners supports volunteer teams by offering the highest quality
preparation, an unmatched approach to evaluation and
registration—for nine different types of animals, and a focus on
connections. We elevate the importance of therapy animal visits,
and our teams help build a healthier and happier world for us all.
Whether or not you have a pet, learn more about sharing the
human-animal bond by visiting https://www.petpartners.org.
About HABRI
HABRI is a not-for-profit organization
that funds innovative scientific research to document the health
benefits of companion animals; educates the public about
human-animal bond research; and advocates for the beneficial role
of companion animals in society. For more information, please visit
http://www.habri.org.
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SOURCE Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI)
