Objectives To explore the effect of the home-based rehabilitation model in improving the family burden of patients with high- and low-function early-onset schizophrenia. Methods A total of 98 patients with early-onset schizophrenia（ EOS） who were treated in the First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University from January 2017 to January 2018 were enrolled. According to the results of the admission examination， patients were divided into groups of high-function EOS（ 52 patients） and low-function EOS （46 patients）. The high-function EOS group was further divided into two groups（ Observation Group 1 and Control Group 1） according to the random number table method， with 26 patients in each group respectively. The low-function EOS group was also further divided into two groups（ Observation Group 2 and Control Group 2） according to the random number table method， with 23 patients in each group respectively. The patients in the two observation groups were treated with home-based rehabilitation mode. The two control groups underwent routine nursing intervention. The patients' family burden， self-care ability and quality of life were compared at 1 month and 3 months after discharge. Results There was no significant difference in the family burden score， self-care ability score， and quality of life score between Observation Group 1 and Control Group 1 and between Observation Group 2 and Control Group 2 at the time of discharge（ P＞0.05）. The family burden score of Observation Group 1 was lower and the self-care ability score and quality of life score were higher than that of Control Group 1 when they were discharged for 1 month and 3 months（ P＜0.05）. Similarly， the family burden score of Observation Group 2 was lower and the self-care ability score and quality of life score were higher than that of Control Group 2 when they were discharged for 1 month and 3 months（ P＜ 0.05）. Conclusions The home-based rehabilitation model can relieve the family burden of the patients with high function and low function EOS， and improve their self-care ability.