There was little consensus as to how active intervention after birth at 22 to 25 weeks of gestation is managed, nor were parents included in the development of policy in many countries. At extremely low gestational ages, the criteria for or against active intervention at birth vary widely between different health systems in Europe.

The use of interviews can increase the validity of a Q methodological study by providing the participant's rationale for analysis of the factor arrays. When to perform the interviews is still under debate, and further study is required to determine whether the timing affects the results.

Factors including the context of infant admission, interprofessional consistency, humane touches of staff and the transition into the culture of the neonatal unit are important issues for parents. These issues warrant further investigation to facilitate individualised family needs, attachment between parents and their baby and the professional team.

The ability of participants to care for their clients as individuals illustrates the nature of empowerment of the nurses to attain the goals of the client. Making this support explicit through defined roles for nurses would potentially enable nurses in abortion services to perform their role more effectively at all gestation times.