Therapy Dogs Calm Kids in Emergency Departments

TOPLINE: 

In a randomized trial, a 10-minute interaction with therapy dogs, alongside child-life support, reduced anxiety in children during visits to an emergency department.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a single-center, randomized clinical trial of 80 children (mean age, 10.9 years) with moderate to high anxiety (score ≥ 6 on the FACES scale) at Riley Children’s Hospital between February 2023 and June 2024.
• Participants were randomly assigned to receive either usual care with a child-life specialist or usual care plus a 10-minute visit from a therapy dog and handler.
• Anxiety was assessed using the FACES scale at baseline, 45 minutes post-intervention, and around discharge.
• The primary outcome was changes in child-reported and parent-reported child anxiety from baseline to 45 minutes; clinically significant reduction in anxiety required a decrease of ≥ 2 points on the FACES scale.
• The use of ketamine, midazolam, lorazepam, droperidol, and haloperidol was also assessed.

TAKEAWAY:

• Children who interacted with therapy dogs had a greater reduction in anxiety at 45 minutes than those who received only child-life support (mean difference, −2.7 vs −1.5; P = .02).
• The reduction in parent-reported child anxiety was greater among children who interacted with therapy dogs than among those who received child-life support alone (mean difference, −3.2 vs −1.8; P = .008).
• A significantly higher percentage of children who interacted with therapy dogs than those who received only child-life support had a FACES score reduction of more than 2.5 points (46% vs 23%; P = .04).
• Fewer children who did vs did not interact with therapy dogs after receiving child-life support required sedative medications (ketamine, midazolam, lorazepam, or droperidol) for anxiety (18% vs 35%); however, the difference was not significant (P = .08). No patients received haloperidol.

IN PRACTICE:

“Adjunctive use of therapy dogs to standard child-life therapy afforded modest but significantly greater reduction in both child-reported and parental-reported child anxiety in the pediatric ED for the intervention group compared with the control group,” the authors wrote. “These findings provide initial evidence for the use of therapy dogs to minimize pain and anxiety without the use of chemical or physical restraint among pediatric ED patients,” they added.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Heather P. Kelker, MD, Department of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis. It was published online on March 14, 2025, in JAMA Network Open.

LIMITATIONS: 

The study may have been limited by a small sample size, potential selection bias, or variability in individual responses to animal-assisted therapy.

DISCLOSURES:

The study was funded by the Human Animal Bond Research Institute and Wayne State University. The authors reported no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.