Objective To explore the application effect of Satir intervention model based on the "medical home" combined with Hawthorne effect on depression among middle school students.

Methods Eighty adolescent patients with depression from November 2023 to October 2024 in the department of psychology of a tertiary hospital's mental health center were selected as the research subjects, and randomly divided into the observation group (40 cases) and control group (40 cases). The observation group received the Satir intervention model based on the "medical home" combined with Hawthorne effect. The control group received routine care. The scores of the regulatory emotional self-efficacy scale (RESE), emotional neglect scale (ENS), self-rating depression scale (SDS) and meaning in life questionnaire (MLQ) between two groups after 6 weeks of intervention and after 1 month of discharge were compared.

Results At the end of 6 weeks of intervention and 1 month after intervention, the scores of RESE and MLQ in the observation group were higher than those in the control group (P ＜ 0.01), the scores of ENS and SDS were lower than those in the control group (P ＜ 0.01).

Conclusions The Satir intervention based on the "hospital-family" model combined with Hawthorne effect can effectively improve the parent-child relationship and depressive mood of middle school students with depression, enhance their self-efficacy in emotional regulation and their perception of the meaning of life.