Dennis Boonen is a registered pediatric nurse (RN) specialized in pain management at Leieborg (Deinze, Belgium). With 20+ years of experience with children and adults with intellectual disabilities, he is bitten by pain nursing in all its facets, and committed to advancing a high-quality, multimodal comfort policy tailored to children and adults with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). His work focuses on improving the recognition and treatment of pain in individuals who are often unable to communicate their discomfort and fear verbally.
In 2025, Dennis published work based on the Flemish Observational Pain Scale for Persons with Multiple Disabilities (VOPS-MB). Building on this research, he developed the Awwie Pain App, an innovative tool designed to support healthcare professionals in identifying and monitoring pain in case of profound intellectual and multiple disabilities.
He states that just as individualized pain management is an essential component of quality of life for many children with intellectual disabilities, adequate attention to procedural comfort is equally important. It is precisely in those situations where discomfort and fear are most easily overlooked that the greatest opportunities for improvement still exist.
Dennis is the founder of the Comfort Network Verstandelijke Beperking, an initiative dedicated to empowering healthcare professionals with evidence-based knowledge, practical tools, and training to recognize and manage pain earlier and more effectively. He regularly provides workshops and presentations on pain assessment and the use of the Awwie Pain App.