מפת דרכים: גיבוש פרדיגמה לעבודה סוציאלית קהילתית

Background: Community social work is often regarded as a practice with different models of intervention. The present article investigates the philosophy and theoretical assumptions of community social work.Aims: To propose an organizational conceptualization of the theoretical and philosophical origins of community social work as a paradigm with ontological, epistemological, axiological, and practical aspects, and to examine its application in the Israeli context.Method: This paper is based on theoretical literature, field knowledge, and expert validation.Results: The ontology of community social work relies on different theoretical sources. The epistemology of community social work relies on the premise that community members are sources of important and valid knowledge which should be merged with professional knowledge. Axiologically, the most prominent value in the community social work paradigm is that of participation, from which other central values are derived. The methodology of the paradigm of community social work is derived from the three above-mentioned components of the paradigm.Conclusions and Implications for Practice and Policy: The conceptualization of the paradigm of community social work can contribute to providing a theoretical foundation for community interventions and to refining the goals of the interventions in Israel. The paradigm can also be used as a pedagogical tool and to build the identity of the students and the social workers who specialize in community social work