New Research: Therapy Dogs Reduce Child Anxiety and Need for Anxiety Medication in the Emergency Department

, /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.

SOURCE Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI)