Dorien Brouwer

161 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dorien Brouwer-Goossensen was born on March 16 th , 1982 in Leiderdorp, the Netherlands. When she was ten years old she moved to Capelle aan den IJssel where she finished her primary school. After finishing secondary school at Gereformeerde Scholengemeenschap Rotterdam she studied for Registered Nurse at Hogeschool Rotterdam in 2000. For four years she worked at the Daniel den Hoed Clinic, Sophia’s Children Hospital and Erasmus University Medical Hospital in Rotterdam. She graduated as a registered nurse on the Neurology ward in 2004. In 2005 she started working as a nurse specialist for neurovascular patients at the outpatient clinic of the Erasmus University Medical Hospital. In 2010 she started the research underlying this thesis at the Department of Neurology under supervision of Prof. dr. P.J. Koudstaal and dr. H.M. den Hertog. In the years following she coordinated the DECIDE study (Determinants of health-related behavior change after TIA and ischemic stroke). She received funding for the MOTIVE study (€25.000 from the Evidence Based Care for Nurses fund), studying effects of motivational interviewing to support health-related behavior change after TIA or ischemic stroke. From 2013 until 2016 she followed several Motivational Interviewing basic courses and finished a Motivational Interviewing expert training. After fourteen years of experience as a nurse specialist she completed her Master of Advanced Nursing Practice in 2018. She currently lives in Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel with her husband Renze Brouwer and three children; Tom (2006), Niels (2008) and Joost (2010).