DIGS-K (DIGS-Korean) was developed from DIGS (Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies) in order to be used in genetic studies of major psychiatric disorders for Korean population, DIGS has been internationally used to solve the phenotype related problem in psychiatric genetic research. DIGS, developed by US NIMH Genetic Initiative, is a semi-structured interview tool and has a purpose of collecting comprehensive information on psychiatric symptoms and disease history. To develop DIGS-K, a special committee for translation was constructed and translation and counter-translation was done in a way to guarantee the best equivalence of translated version of DIGS. Standardization was done for schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and alcohol related disorders. As a result, excellent reliability and validity was shown for most psychiatric disorders except schizoaffective disorder. It is expected that psychiatric genetic research with Korean population will have better reliability and have basis for activating collaborative research not only within the country but also internationally by using DIGS-K. (Schizophrenia Clinics 2003;6:19-23) |