Teal Health is proud to share peer-reviewed findings published in DIGITAL HEALTH. The study looks beyond the device itself and asks a different question: when a woman screens for cervical cancer at home and gets her results through a telehealth platform, does the experience actually support her in understanding those results, processing them emotionally, and taking the right next step? The answer, the data show, is yes — with results that arrived quickly, were understood, and were acted on within hours.
The problem we set out to address
Cervical cancer screening only works if it leads to action. For HPV-positive results in particular, what happens after the test matters as much as the test itself: many women have never been told that HPV is common, that most infections clear on their own, or that an HPV-positive result is not a cancer diagnosis. Without that context, getting an unexpected result can trigger anxiety, confusion, and — too often — disengagement from the follow-up care that actually prevents cancer. This is well-documented in the literature, especially among women with lower health literacy. So as at-home cervical cancer screening expands, the question isn't only whether the device performs. It's whether the system around it — the platform, the language, the provider touchpoints — can guide a woman through the moment she opens her results and decide what to do next.
What we studied
This prospective, mixed-methods usability study followed 30 women aged 25–65 through the complete end-to-end at-home screening experience: account registration, an introductory virtual visit, kit delivery, self-collection with the clinically validated Teal Wand (FDA authorized, May 2025), sample mailing to a CLIA-certified lab, results delivery via Teal's HIPAA-secure telehealth platform, and — for those with HPV-positive results or a recent HPV history — a follow-up virtual appointment with a Teal provider. Participants completed surveys after each major touchpoint, and a subset of 10 participated in in-depth interviews. The research team analyzed how participants navigated the platform, how they understood and responded to their results, and what they needed in the moments immediately after viewing them. The study was IRB-approved (WCG IRB, 20244750).
What we found
The end-to-end experience worked — and the data on engagement after results delivery are particularly striking:
- Overall satisfaction averaged 4.7 out of 5, and 100% of participants completed self-collection at home using the Teal Wand. 77% said they would use Teal for their next cervical cancer screening, and the remaining 23% said "maybe" — no participant said no.
- All 30 participants viewed their results within an average of 1.5 hours of receiving notification. None required a reminder.
- Among the 9 participants who needed a follow-up visit (HPV-positive or with a recent HPV history), 100% scheduled the appointment within hours of viewing their results, and 100% attended. This level of follow-through is meaningfully higher than what's typically seen with clinic-based screening.
- 93% found the platform easy to navigate, the language easy to understand, and the provider's accompanying note helpful and supportive in processing what their results meant.
- The provider note was the single most-used resource for participants making sense of HPV-positive results — relied on by 67% of those receiving abnormal results, more than any external source.
- After the follow-up telehealth appointment, the negative emotions associated with HPV-positive results — fear, confusion, hesitancy — largely resolved. Post-visit, participants reported feeling at-ease, cared for, supported, and prepared. Provider engagement, the data suggest, is the bridge between a worrying result and constructive action.
- Qualitative findings shaped how Teal's platform now delivers results commercially. Participants asked for clearer explanations of what HPV is, reassurance about correct sample collection, and answers to common questions delivered alongside the result itself — so that the moment of opening the result wouldn't drive them to undirected internet searches. Teal incorporated these insights directly into the commercial platform, including expanded educational resources, clearer language around "abnormal" results, and built-in answers to the questions women said they had right after receiving their results.
Why it matters
A clinically validated screening device is necessary, but it's not sufficient. Cervical cancer is preventable when women get screened and engage with appropriate follow-up — and historically, the handoff between an abnormal result and follow-up care has been one of the weakest links in the system. This study is direct, peer-reviewed evidence that a thoughtfully designed telehealth platform paired with at-home self-collection can close that gap: results are viewed quickly, understood clearly, and acted on without delay. The 100% follow-up scheduling and attendance rate among participants needing care is the headline finding, and it speaks to something important — that when the experience is designed with intention, the follow-up conversation many women need actually happens.
Teal Health's role
Teal Health built the Teal Wand™ together with an integrated, HIPAA-secure telehealth platform because we believed from the start that the device alone wouldn't be enough — that closing screening gaps required closing the experience gap, end to end. This study is part of a growing body of peer-reviewed Teal-led research, alongside our pivotal SELF-CERV results published in JAMA Network Open, our sub-analysis on screening among women with higher BMI in Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, our analysis of the LGBQ+ screening experience in Cancer Control, and our cross-population experience study in Women's Health Reports. Together, these studies establish that the Teal Wand is clinically equivalent to clinician-collected screening, meaningfully preferred across diverse populations, and — uniquely — supported by a digital experience that turns results into action.
We built Teal because cervical cancer prevention should never depend on whether the standard tools were designed with you in mind. This study is one more piece of evidence that, with the right tools and the right support, screening can finally meet women where they are — from the moment they consider it, through the moment they need answers.