Background: In this modern society both men and women experience various patterns of stress. The stress is common among women irrespective of their nature of work (working outside or housewife), it is a known phenomena. The stress faced by married employed women commonly referred to as a dual stress has drawn the attention of the researchers. Most of the studies have been conducted to assess the level of stress in working women alone. There was very little effort to find out the stress level of housewives. Method: A quantitative approach, non experimental descriptive survey design was adopted. A total 100 homemakers were selected by using simple random sampling technique, the target populations were homemakers and the accessible populations were those who reside in Belgaum city. A self prepared tool were used to collect socio-demographic data, modified stress scale to assess the level of stress and a standardized scale (K Matheson and H Anisman’s Coping Scale) to assess the coping strategies of homemakers. The data was collected after getting consent from the homemakers. Survey techniques were adopted and self administered questionnaire was provided to each homemaker for the duration of 20-30 minutes. And data was compiled and tabulated for descriptive and inferential statistics. Result: Stress experienced by homemakers reveals that among hundred homemakers 35(35%) of them had mild stress, 61(61%) moderate stress whereas 4(04%) had severe stress level. Among hundred homemakers, 90 (90%) of them had moderate coping strategies and 10 (10%) of them had poor coping strategies. There is a positive correlation (r = 0.20) between level of stress and coping strategies of homemakers. The mean value of respondents on level of stress is 39.51 with standard deviation of 6.46 where as the mean value of respondents on coping strategies 27.47 with standard deviation of 4.92. Discussion: This present study is supported by other similar studies. Above statistical data showed that as the homemakers stress is in between mild and moderate level they have moderate coping strategies and they adjust to their stressful events. Conclusion: The overall findings of the study depicts that homemakers had moderate to severe stress and adapted moderate to poor coping strategies.

Keywords: Stress; Coping Strategies; Homemakers.