This is an interventional study sponsored by the Parkinson's Foundation designed to measure the feasibility, acceptability, and initial impact of the SMART-PD program on participants with a recent (less than five years) diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and their caregivers. This program provides information and tools to help patients and their caregivers cope with the new PD diagnosis and manage the stress and negative mental health symptoms (such as anxiety and depression) associated with the diagnosis.~SMART-PD is a manualized 8-week intervention that teaches cognitive-behavioral techniques and relaxation skills to help participants learn to elicit the relaxation response, alter cognitive appraisals, improve healthy lifestyle behaviors (i.e., sleep, nutrition, physical activity) and access social support.~Participants will take baseline and follow-up questionnaires to ascertain the impact of the program on outcomes such as quality of life, emotional health, coping skills, and healthy lifestyle behaviors.
SMART-PD is an 8-session program designed to decrease the physiological, emotional, cognitive and behavioral effects of stress in participants with Parkinson's disease and their caregivers by teaching cognitive-behavioral techniques and relaxation skills to help participants learn to elicit the relaxation response, alter cognitive appraisals, improve healthy lifestyle behaviors and access social support. The SMART program has been shown to be effective for reducing mental health symptoms such as depression and anxiety as well as physical symptoms such as pain and in promoting positive health behaviors.