Purpose:
The Support Group for Children with Bladder Exstrophy and their Families has been in existence at Children's Hospital Boston for 17.5 years. Parents attend sessions which include topic presentation and group discussion while children participate in group specific activities for their individual ages.

Male patients have attended the meetings until age ten; while female patients often participate through early adulthood. Parents of males have reported that their sons have refused to attend during the pre- adolescent- adolescent years. Parents and caregivers identified that males stopped participating due to obligations with sports as well as disinterest in group activities. The need for an exclusive support group for adolescent males was identified.

Materials and Methods:
This report describes an innovative approach to providing outreach to adolescent males with bladder exstrophy. The group setting is casual and is exclusive to young men of high school age and beyond. The group is supervised by a Pediatric Urology Nurse and Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist. Typically, an adult male with bladder exstrophy is present to lend support. The sessions are limited to six additional participants.

Expectations for the group are outlined at the beginning of each session which includes respect for privacy. Topics include health issues, managing catheterization, dating and risky behaviors. The group has met five times over the past year.

Results:
The support group sessions provide a safe environment for adolescent/ young adult males to address health concerns with trusted clinicians.

Conclusions:
The support group has expanded to facilitate discussion among young men with regard to overall health and challenges that they encounter. The group has become cohesive and has progressed to request specific topics for future meetings.