Measuring Implementation Fidelity for the Gathering of Native Americans (GONA)

This article releases the Gathering of Native Americans (GONA) Fidelity Tool to the public. The paper describes the methods in the development of the GONA Fidelity Tool and how it is used in planning, implementing, evaluating, and in further tailoring the GONA process more precisely to the community's needs and strengths. Development and revision of the tool occurred over 10 years with participation and input from 7 Urban Indian Health Organizations funded under Title V of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, using the tool to advance local GONAs across the state of California. Participating organizations used the tool in partnership with Indigenous evaluators to measure GONA implementation. Process evaluations were conducted to support tool advancements over time and an Annual GONA Training of Facilitators provided a forum for consensus building of GONA best practices for tool revisions. Results indicate that the tool is useful in the planning, implementation, and quality improvement to advance local GONAs over time. The most effective use of the tool is when the items are adapted to the local culture, context, and spiritual practices of the community(ies) served. The tool is now being used nationally and has become an important resource for measuring practice-based evidence and community-defined evidence in the implementation of GONA for Indigenous communities.