A paper by Susan Rodiek, examining the benefits of outdoor space to residents of long-term care facilities, recently earned the First Place Research Award from the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing and Care Industries (NIC). The organization, dedicated to advancing the seniors housing and care industry, facilitates informed investment decision-making and provides excellence in networking, professional education, and research.

It’s members, Rodiek noted, include “top-ranking people who own and finance virtually all the long-term care facilities built in the United States.”

Rodiek’s paper, “A Missing Link: Can Enhanced Outdoor Space Improve Seniors Housing?” appeared in Seniors Housing and Care Journal, an annual peer-reviewed publication published by Mather LifeWays, a non-profit organization dedicated to research in long-term care. The journal features the year’s best research in the field of long-term care field, which is relevant to industry investors and long-term care facility owners and developers.

“From what I’ve seen in previous issues, they seem to want valid and leading-edge research that will inform their more research-oriented members on what is being done in the field,” Rodiek explained. “Some articles are purely scientific, but mine was also oriented toward how they might use the results of my studies to develop better facilities for seniors.”

The award, which is the only research award presented each year by the NIC, will be bestowed at the Sept. 27-29 NIC conference in Chicago.