As part of an international collaborative effort to assess the feasibility of a comprehensive, community-wide genetic linkage study of OD in one such village (with a Hmong population), we sought to develop methods for the reliable phenotypic characterization of OD in Thai-speaking populations. We chose to adapt the Semi-Structured Assessment for Drug Dependence and Alcoholism (SSADDA)(Pierucci-Lagha et al., 2007; Pierucci-Lagha et al., 2005) based on its specialized development for genetic studies of substance use disorders, its excellent psychometric properties, and our prior extensive experience with the instrument in the assessment of opioid dependence (Gelernter et al., 2006) and other disorders (Kalayasiri et al., 2005). The current study reports on the diagnostic reliability and concurrent validity of DSM-IV opioid dependence (OD) using the opioid dependence section of the newly translated instrument (the Thai SSADDA) as well as a previously validated Thai version of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (Thai MINI)(Sheehan et al., 1998), newly adapted by us for lifetime diagnosis in the proposed study population.
