EBD Blog

Photo by Ken Hively, LAT.

In “Archie? He’s the dog star,” Mary Engel of the Los Angeles (CA, US) Times, has a heart-tugging story about a large dog that spends its days at Casa Pacifica, a facility for children who have been abused or neglected or have Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. The story is typical of human interest stories that one commonly sees in relation to EBD. There’s lots of references to hugs, community support, and (of course) beneficial effects.

Wired teenagers walk out their frustrations next to Archie. Lonely adolescents sit beside him on the green lawn, arms draped across his broad back. Kids who are having trouble in school practice reading aloud to him, choosing from a library of books about Newfies.

A toddler who was 11 months old when she arrived at Casa Pacifica spoke her first word there: “Archie.”

Fortunately, Ms. Engel goes beyond the meaningful anecdote. She describes a study showing greater improvements in patients who receive visits from animals than those who receive visits from humans or no visits. However, the study is not particularly relevant. It’s about dogs visiting adult patients hospitalized for severe heart problems (e.g., awaiting a transplant). Ms. Engel hits closer to the mark when she uses the word “magic” to describe the effects of having Archie interact with the children.

I have no objection to having pets in facilities for students with EBD, but I object to statements implying that there are strong therapeutic effects. Even in human interest stories, there should be a minimum standard of evidence. There are effective treatments for children with EBD. For example, see Ollendick and King’s (1998) review.

Ollendick, T. H., & King, N. J. (1998). Empirically supported treatments for children with phobic and anxiety disorders: Current status. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 27, 156-167.

To learn about the study of heart patients, see the story headed “Dogs ease anxiety, improve health status of hospitalized heart failure patients”; it’s a meeting report about a session at the 2005 convention of the American Heart Association by Kathie M. Cole, R.N., M.N., C.C.R.N. (lead author of the study and a clinical nurse III at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles).

Read Ms. Engel’s article here.